Automotive component - Assignment Example

It is part of the wheels of the machine which offer a lot of advantages in the automobile ensemble, as well as within the auto industry in general. The wheels make the automobiles run, and the tires are the coverings of the wheels to make the ride pleasant. They protect the total ensemble from crumbling into pieces when they are used. What are tires ? Tires are parts of automobile that provides the coverings for wheels that is used for the general locomotion of the whole machine. They are black donut like forms generally made up of rubber and other complex materials.

Tires make the automobiles steer, brake and corner easily along the road. The presence of tires makes the ride comfortable and safe. Tires must be durable and they make the automobiles last for long time. What are Tires Made of? Tires are products of engineering technology mostly made up of rubber. Rubber compounds come from polymers such as Natural Rubber, Isoprene Rubber, Styrene Butadiene and others. They are mixed with softeners, reinforcement materials and other various chemicals. Mostly, natural rubber coming from rubber trees are the preferred materials used to manufacture tires.

Rubbers are the most suitable materials for tires because they have high tear strength, wear resistance, impact resilience, and low heat generation. In order for the rubbers to achieve such characteristics, they are subjected to heat and pretreated with various chemicals. The rubber materials are enhanced with substances such as waxes and antioxidants. These substances protect the rubber from aging and wearing caused by heat, ozone and deflection. Tires are structured with steel cords to provide reinforcement and strong body.

These steel cords have high level of carbon content to assure that the tires would have superior tensile strength with high modulus of elasticity in the entire length. The total performance of tires depends upon the construction of these cords to assure that tires are durable and would last a long period of time (Tire Materials, n.d). What are the design parameters of tires? Tires look simple from the outside, but they are actually mixtures of various materials processed and designed through sophisticated equipment and facilities.

They are intricately formed and manufactured so as to make them durable, flexible, and make them last long. There are many parameters in the design of tires to consider them as those having high quality. Tires are designed with tread, beads and sidewalls. Treads are the patterned and molded surfaces that come in contact with the road surface. The body and sidewalls gives the shape of the tire and the rubber covered beads embedded with metals and wires holds the wheel tires. The tread depth is the parameter that shows the wear and tear of the tire.

It can be measured through the difference of the top of the rubber tread with the bottom of the deepest grooves of the tire. The tread wear percentage is calculated for the remaining usability of the entire tire. Tires have maximum load. The load of the tire is related to the overall size and diameter of the tire. Tires with higher loads are considered to have stronger internal construction. Tires are also marked with their allowable inflation pressure for the general safe operation for tires with specific load ratings.

Every tire has an allowable recommended inflation pressure