CORRELATION BETWEEN LABORATORY ABRASION AND TIRE ROAD WEAR OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE TREAD COMPOSITES

ABSTRACT Tread wear is one of the indicators determining the service life of tires. Because electric vehicles are heavier overall and exhibit greater starting torque than fuel cars, tread wear is more severe. This study aims to clarify and establish the correlation between laboratory abrasion and tire road wear. Specifically, we compared tire road wear against several standard abrasion metrics: Laboratory Abrasion Tester 100 (LAT 100) (at various slip angles), Akron, Lambourn, and Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) methods. LAT 100 abrasion at 5.5° slip angle exhibits the strongest correlation with tire road wear. The causes are analyzed in combination with the tire service conditions of the tread. The Lambourn abrasion at 15% longitudinal slip ratio shows a similar trend with the tire road wear. The Akron abrasion condition is 15° slip angle, and the DIN abrasion condition is 100% longitudinal slip ratio, both of which are different from the tread of passenger vehicle service conditions; therefore, their correlations with tire road wear are poor. This study clarified the correlation between different laboratory abrasions and tire road wear and demonstrated the importance of selecting the proper laboratory test condition reflecting service driving conditions. Furthermore, the influence of friction energy and the proportions of longitudinal and lateral friction energies on the abrasion patterns are analyzed to understand the roles of the longitudinal and lateral friction in abrasion.