TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a sealing composition for repairing tyres.

BACKGROUND ART

When a tyre is punctured, it is now common practice to use a sealing composition. Said composition is poured into the tyre to repair the puncture from the inside, thus ensuring an airtight seal of the tyre.

Different sealing compositions are known in which a rubber latex, generally natural rubber, is mixed with an adhesive and an anti-freeze agent.

The drawback, however, is that said compositions, if kept for long periods, are subject to phenomena of aggregation between the latex particles and the adhesive particles resulting in the composition taking on a creamy look. Generally, therefore, when said creamy composition is dispensed, it obstructs the dispenser valve and is not able to adequately repair the puncture .

Studies carried out by the inventors have shown that one of the causes of obstruction of the dispenser valve appears to be the large dimension of the natural rubber particles of approximately 1 micron and their non-uniform and unstable granulometric distribution.

Compositions are also known which do not contain an adhesive agent. However, also said compositions cause obstruction of the dispenser valve.

Therefore the need is felt in the art for a new sealing composition for repairing tyres which is without the drawbacks of the known compositions. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The object of the present invention is therefore to find a sealing composition which is stable in the long term with rubber latex particles which are not subject to phenomena of aggregation resulting in obstruction of the dispenser valve, but at the same time maintains the sealing capacity.

Said object is achieved by the sealing composition as claimed in claim 1.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Phyllosilicates are silicates characterised by a layered structure with tetrahedral symmetry in which each tetrahedron tends to bind with another three by means of oxygen bridges. The members of this family, generally, have a lamellar or scaly appearance, with well-defined' cleavage. They are calcium, magnesium, aluminium, sodium, iron, lithium or barium silicates. They are soft minerals, with low specific gravity and the cleavage sheets can be flexible or elastic.

In particular, the particles of phyllosilicate and silica added to the sealing composition perform both a lubricating action on the composition, reducing aggregation of the particles of natural latex and therefore facilitating its passage through the dispenser valve, and at the same time an adjuvant action during sealing of the puncture as they penetrate into the latex mixture during polymerisation, performing a mechanical reinforcement action.

Preferably the mineral used is silica or kaolin.

Advantageously, the mineral used has an average granulometric distribution in the range between 5 and 95 nm, in particular between 10 and 30 nm.

According to a preferred embodiment, the synthetic latex has average granulometry in the range between 0.05 and 0.3 μπι and has been advantageously used for the production of a sealing composition. Said formulation is able to considerably stabilise the sealing composition thus avoiding aggregation of the particles, while maintaining an optimal sealing power characteristic of the compositions based on natural latex.

It has furthermore been noted that a diameter of the particles of synthetic latex with an average granulometric distribution in the range 0.05-0.3 μιη is more preferable, and even more preferably a granulometric distribution of 0.1.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the sealing composition comprises natural latex in an amount in the range between 40 and 70%, a synthetic latex in an amount in the range between 10 and 20% and ethylene glycol in an amount in the range between 20 and 50%. More preferably the composition comprises:

30-35% of natural latex;

32-37% of synthetic latex;

25-31% of propylene glycol;

0.4-0.7% of silica having a granulometric distribution in the range between 10 and 30 nm.

Preferably the synthetic latex has a gelatinisation rate of at least 25% measured according to a mechanical stability test of the Mallon type based on JIS-K6387, more preferably greater than 50%, and is advantageously selected from the group consisting of styrene-butadiene and carboxylated styrene- butadiene.

Furthermore the natural latex used has given excellent results when deproteinised .

The sealing composition can furthermore comprise a polyurethane latex which has a further stabilising effect and is added in an amount in the range between 0.5% and 3%, preferably 1-2%.

Lastly the sealing composition can also comprise additives such as an anti-oxidant agent, preferably in an amount of 0.05-3%, more preferably 0.1-1.5%, and a stabiliser agent preferably in an amount of 0.2-3, more preferably 0.5-2%.

Further characteristics of the present invention will become clear from the following description of some merely illustrative and non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLE 1

Chemical-physical characterisation of a sealing composition comprising silica

The composition illustrated in Table 1 was produced according to the invention.

Table 1

Quantity

Components Producer

(g ±0.5%)

THAI Latex

Natural latex 314

(Thailand)

LDBS 23

Stabiliser 20

(Cogins)

WLL

Antioxidant 10

(New Tiarco)

Proplylene Glycol

Antifreeze agent 300

(Hengyang)

SBR Latex

Synthetic latex 350

(Dow)

Si0 ₂ (granule

dimension 15-25

Mineral 6

nm)

(Henan Wangu)

Total 1000 The viscosity, the pH and the specific gravity (SpG) were evaluated on different batches of the composition illustrated in Table 1. The results are given in Table 2.

Table 2

Example 2

Freezing test

The freezing test was performed on the three batches of the composition illustrated in example 1 to verify maintenance of the properties of the sealing composition also at low temperatures, in particular at -40°C.

50 ml of sealing composition were placed in a glass beaker. The beaker was then placed in a refrigerator and kept at -40°C for 8 hours.

The sample of sealing composition in all three batches analysed shows no signs of freezing or crystalline formations on the surface.

Example 3

Test for evaluation of sealing power

The sealing power of the composition was evaluated on Ford tyres (ES8S43-19L523-AA) in which a puncture was made between the grooves with a 6 mm diameter steel nail.

The reduction of the tyre pressure after 30 seconds, measured to determine a linear deflation speed in kPa/min, was higher than 50kPa. Subsequently the tyre was fitted on a shuttle bus and connected to a compressor. The sealing composition of example 1 was injected into the tyre which was then inflated to 240 kPa.

The shuttle bus was driven for 10 minutes at a minimum speed of 30 km/h and maximum speed of 80 km/h, measuring the tyre pressure to evaluate the sealing power according to the pressure loss after 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 7 minutes and verifying any leaks from the puncture made.

Subsequently the shuttle bus was stopped and the pressure was measured again after 1 hour and 2 hours.

The results obtained are given in Table 3.

As can be seen, the sealing composition proved capable of sealing the tyre not only at ambient temperature but also at 70°C and at -40°C even after 5 minutes. Although at low temperatures the time required to disperse the sealing composition is considerably longer, sealing nevertheless takes place within the first 5 minutes.

Table 3

Example 4

Chemical-physical characterisation of a sealing composition comprising kaolin The composition illustrated in Table 4 was produced according to the invention.

Table 4

Viscosity, pH and specific gravity (SpG) were evaluated on different batches of the composition illustrated in Table 4. The results are given in Table 5.

Table 5

Batch number Physical properties

Viscosity PH Specific

(Cps) gravity

(SpG)

Batch 4 65.3 7.20 1.0024

Batch 5 67.8 7.32 0.998

Batch 6 65.7 7.34 1.0032