{"id":6076,"date":"2011-07-28T06:14:13","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T13:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=6076"},"modified":"2014-12-05T01:25:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T09:25:26","slug":"making-tires-black-instead-of-the-natural-white-color-of-rubber-produces-a-much-stronger-and-longer-lasting-tire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/making-tires-black-instead-of-the-natural-white-color-of-rubber-produces-a-much-stronger-and-longer-lasting-tire\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Tires Black, Instead of the Natural White Color of Rubber, Produces a Much Stronger and Longer Lasting Tire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I found out<\/a> making tires black, instead of the natural white color of rubber, produces a much stronger and longer lasting tire.<\/p>\n

Originally rubber tires were white, which is the natural color of rubber.\u00a0 In the early 1900s, Binney & Smith began selling their carbon black chemicals to Goodrich Tire Company, as it was found that the use of carbon black in rubber manufacturing significantly increased certain desirable qualities for rubber meant to be turned into tires.\u00a0 (Binney & Smith would later switch to making school products, and, eventually, re-name their company after their most popular product, Crayola Crayons.)<\/p>\n

In any event, carbon black works as a reinforcing filler in rubber, which increases the durability and strength of the rubber.\u00a0 Specifically, adding about 50% by weight of carbon black increases the road-wear abrasion of the produced tire by as much as 100 fold and improves the tensile strength of the tire by as much as 1008%.\u00a0 For the uninitiated, the tensile strength is the amount of force needed to pull something to its breaking or bursting point.<\/p>\n

Adding carbon black also helps conduct heat away from certain hot spots on the tire; specifically, in the tread and belt areas, which can get particularly hot at times while driving.\u00a0 This reduces thermal damage on the tire, further extending its lifespan.<\/p>\n

From a purely cosmetic standpoint, black tires are also much easier to keep looking clean, which also makes them desirable over natural white rubber tires.\u00a0 However, in modern times, white wall tires or fully white tires are sometimes thought as more luxurious, particularly on classic cars.\u00a0 However, when fully black tires first came out, they were considered the more desirable tire for their prestige and tended to only be found on high end luxury cars.<\/p>\n

Carbon black itself is simply nearly pure elemental carbon in colloidal particle form.\u00a0 It is classically made by simply charring any organic material.\u00a0 Examples of this are Ivory Black, made by charring ivory or bones, and Lamp Black, made from the soot of oil lamps. Carbon black for industrial use today is typically produced as Furnace Black and Thermal Black.\u00a0 Furnace Black is produced using heavy aromatic oils.\u00a0 Thermal Black is produced using natural gas, generally methane, injected into a very hot furnace where, in the absence of much air, carbon black and hydrogen are produced.<\/p>\n

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