Fibers and Polymers 2009, Vol.10, No.2, 221-225 DOI 10.

1007/s12221-009-0221-7

Effect of Twist Level on Tyre Cord Performance

Ayse Aytac*, Berrin Yilmaz1, and Veli Deniz
Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Kocaeli University, 41040 Kocaeli, Turkey
1
KORDSA Global Industrial Yarn and Tyre Cord Fabric Manufacturing and Trading Inc., Kocaeli, Turkey
(Received June 6, 2007; Revised October 30, 2008; Accepted January 20, 2009)

Abstract: The effect of twist level on the mechanical and thermal properties of nylon 66 and polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) tyre cords has been studied. Effects of the twist on some critical cord properties such as tensile properties, shrinkage,
shrink force, adhesion and fatigue have been evaluated. Breaking strength was decreased between 3.1 and 7.3 twist factor val-
ues, whereas breaking elongation was increased, on both nylon 66 and polyester cords. The tensile behaviour of high twist
factor PET is similar to that of low twist factor nylon cords. This is an advantage for the possibility to get closer the properties
of different materials by adjusting theirs twist factors. The shrinkage values increase with increasing twist factor, whereas
shrinks force values decrease for greige nylons and polyester cords. Adhesion and fatigue resistance is increased with increas-
ing twist factors.
Keywords: Tyre, Cord, Mechanical property, Twist factor, Polyester, Nylon 66

Introduction
Tyre is a composite matter of reinforcing materials and
rubber compounds. The reinforcing materials used are mainly
textile cords, steel cords and steel bead wire. These materials
carry the major part of the structural load of the automobiles
and should exhibit excellent dimensional stability, tensile
and fatigue properties [1-3].
Cord fabric is the basic textile material, which is used to
reinforce the pneumatic tyre. It consists of parallel warps and
rare wefts. It can be produced with different type of yarns. The
most widely offered yarns at the market are Polyamide 6 and
66, Polyester and Rayon. Due to the high cost of the complete
developing and getting approval of new yarns for use in tyre
application, polyester and nylon yarns are still predominantly
used in the tyre industry worldwide [4,5]. The total synthetic
fiber production in 2000 was 51.6 million tones in the world.
Over two-thirds of the synthetic fiber produced was polyester.
Approximately 4 million tones of nylon were produced in
the world. In terms of production volume, nylon ranked third
among the major fibers [6].
Various efforts have been made to investigate the effects
of the twist level on the tyre cord performance. Fristsch had
investigated rayon, PET, and Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN)
tyre reinforcement materials with different twisting conditions
[7]. Hockenberger and Koral had investigated the effect of
twist on the cord performance of PEN, dimensionally stable
polyester and high tenacity polyester cords [3].
For optimum tyre performance, adequate adhesion between
reinforcing materials and rubber compound is essential.
Conventional resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) adhesion
systems provide required adhesion for nylon cords whereas
polyester cords require the use of reactive chemicals [2].
RFL formulation depends on to compound type to be used in
tyre and can be changed according to the customer requests [8].
It is well known that cords in the tyre are continuously
flexed, extended and compressed tyres while tyre is running.
Therefore, the reinforcing materials must withstand to a
large number of fatigue cycles keeping the initial properties [9].
Nkiwane and Mukhopadhyay investigated flex fatigue life
nylon 66 tyre yarns and cords at different stress levels at
standard atmospheric conditions [10]. Naskar et al. have
reported the physico-mechanical and fatigue characteristic
of polyester, nylon 6 and nylon 66 cords [1].
In this paper PET and Ny 66, mainly used cords types in
the tyre industry, have been studied. Mechanical and thermal
properties of nylon and polyester cords at different twist
factors were investigated. Effect of the twist on some critical
cord properties such as on the tensile strength, shrinkage,
shrink force, adhesion and fatigue has been evaluated.
Experimental
Material
The commercial nylon 66 (940 dtex) and polyester (1100
dtex) greige yarns supplied from KORDSA Global (Turkey)
were used for the study. Tyre cords were prepared on an
industrial ring twister machine by twisting the yarns into
two-ply construction with 200, 350 and 470 turns/m. Then,
the same twist levels were applied to the single yarns to keep
the filaments together. The dipped cords were dried in a
series of oven to obtain the required rubber adhesion and the
tensile properties. The greige cords were then treated with
RFL adhesive solutions under controlled tension and
temperature. Consequently, the excessive tension and the
heat setting on the dipped cords were relaxed. and wound up
to the rolls. Standard rubber compounds required for the
fatigue and H-adhesion tests were obtained from KORDSA.

*Corresponding author: aaytac@kocaeli.edu.tr

221
222 Fibers and Polymers 2009, Vol.10, No.2
Method
Twist
The twists (in turns per meter, tpm) of the greige and
dipped cords were measured using a Zweigle twist tester
(Germany), according to ASTM D885. Twist level of the
cords were then transformed in to the twist factor (TF)
values, in order to compare the properties of commercial tire
cords with different linear densities. The twist factor was
calculated by using the following equation (1).
= ( /1000) 1/2
(1)
TF t LD
Where, : twist in turns per meter
t runs up to 100 000 cycles. The number of cycles in each test
LD : linear density in tex
Tensile Tests
The tensile tests were performed by using Instron tester
4502, with cross head speed of 300 mm/min and gauge
length of 254 mm according to ASTM D885. Averages of 5
test runs have been reported for each type cord.
Shrinkage and Shrink Force
The hot shrinkage of the greige cords was measured using
Testrite shrinkage tester at 177 C for 2 min. The pretension
o
used for the thermal and free shrinkages measurements was
0.05 g/denier. An average of 3 test runs has been reported for
each type cord.
H-adhesion Test
The rubber strips were placed in the channels of a stainless
steel die. Then dipped cords were placed on rubber strips.
The ends of cords were stretched by 50 g weights. The cords
were then covered completely by the second layer of rubber
Figure 1. Polyester cords with different twist levels (a) 200 tpm (b) 350 tpm, and (c) 470 tpm.
Figure 2. Nylon cords with different twist levels (a) 200 tpm (b) 350 tpm, and (c) 470 tpm.
Ayse Aytac et al.
strips. The samples were vulcanized at 153 C and under the
o
pressure of 3.2 MPa for 25 min. Then the products were cut
into H-shaped samples. Static adhesion was evaluated by
measuring cord pull out force in Instron tester 4502 at 25 C, o
(ASTM D4776). An average of 8 test runs has been reported
for each type cord.
Fatigue Test
Fatigue properties of the cords were measured using Wallace
test equipment. The equipment has five hubs and is capable
of testing up to five specimens at once. The prepared test
specimens are mounted to the hubs. Then the equipment
is being recorded by a counter affixed to each rocker arm
(ASTM D 430).
Optical Microscopy Studies
Olympus SZ6045 Model, Automatic Trinoculer Stereo
Zoom Microscope, was used for optical microscopic analysis.
Results and Discussion
Tensile Properties
The optical microscope pictures of two ply nylon and
polyester cords with three different twist levels are shown in
the Figures 1-2 respectively. The number of turns per unit
length increases with increasing twist factor. Therefore the
amount of yarn per unit length increases. The filaments are
tightened and the contact area of the plies in unit length
increases as the number of twist increases. Since, the changes
on the surfaces and the direction of the plies depend very
Effect of Twist Level on Tyre Cord Performance Fibers and Polymers 2009, Vol.10, No.2 223

This result gives us the possibility to get closer to the

Figure 3. Stress-strain curves of nylon and polyester greige cords
with different twist levels.
much on the twist factor of the cord, the mechanical and the
thermal properties of the cord should also be affected with
increasing twist factors.
Two different regions of the stress-strain curves can be
easily distinguished (Figure 3). These regions are the elastic
region including yield point and the strain-hardening region.
It has been observed that the first region, i.e., elastic region
did not change significantly with increasing twist factor. But,
the yield points appear at lower loads as a result of decreasing
modulus values. The modulus of nylon 66 cords is lower
than that of polyester cord (see Figure 3 and Table 1). The
initial modulus values of nylon and polyester cords decreases
with increasing twist values. The change in the second
region, on the other hand, is more obvious with increasing
twist factor. The tensile behaviour of high twist factor PET
cords approaches to that of low twist factor nylon cords.
properties of different materials by adjusting theirs twist
factors. As it can be seen from Figure 3, stress-strain
behaviour of nylon cords with 200 tpm approached to that of
the polyester cord with 470 tpm. In other words, stress-strain
behaviour of two different cords, but at different twist
factors is similar.
The tensile test results of the greige cords are given in
Table 1. It has been observed that the breaking strength was
decreased and breaking elongation was increased for twist
factor values between 3.1 and 7.3 in both types of greige
cords. It is well known that when the twist is applied to any
textile yarn the breaking strength of the yarn increases
initially up to an optimum twist level, and then decreases
independent type materials. As twist increases, the helix
angle (between cord axis and filament axis) of cord
increases. This is the reason of the fact that cord with higher
twist level has low breaking strength but high fatigue
resistance. Therefore, in order to obtain better fatigue resistance
and breaking strength, twist level of tire cord is kept in a
certain range. It is known that twist also affects the breaking
energy. Breaking energy, measured as the area under the
stress-strain curve, is greater for nylon 66 than that of PET.
This property provides greater resistance to impacts from
road hazards such as rocks, curbs, debris or potholes. It has
been also observed that breaking energy was increased with
increasing twist factors for both nylon and polyester cords.
The tensile test results of the dipped cords are given in
Table 2. The tensile strengths of the cords are slightly
decreased respect to that of greige cords values. Dipping and
treatment operations cause also reduction in the elongation
at break values of dipped cords. For that reason, breaking

Table 1.Tensile test results of greige cords

Cord type Twist level Twist factor Breaking strength Breaking Breaking energy Initial modulus
(tpm) (N) elongation (%) (Joule) (N/mm)
200 2.9 156 19.1 3.91 5.9
Nylon 66 350 5.0 155 22.4 4.57 5.1
470 6.7 152 26.1 5.11 4.2
200 3.1 151 11.5 2.72 6.4
Polyester 350 5.4 145 14.3 3.34 5.4
470 7.3 139 16.8 3.35 4.5

Table 2.Tensile and adhesion test results of dipped cords

Cord type Twist factor Breaking strength Breaking Breaking energy Initial modulus H-adhesion
(N) elongation (%) (joule) (N/mm) (N)
2.9 151 19.4 3.77 5.04 107
Nylon 66 5.0 147 21.9 4.33 4.50 123
6.7 146 22.0 3.88 4.15 121
3.1 152 12.7 2.68 5.66 102
Polyester 5.4 145 13.5 2.73 5.07 93
7.3 137 13.9 2.62 4.61 112
224 Fibers and Polymers 2009, Vol.10, No.2 Ayse Aytac et al.

energy of the dipped cords is lower than that of greige cords.

Adhesion Properties
During the tyre cord dipping processing, an adhesive is
applied and fabric is treated under the controlled conditions
of time, temperature and tension (parameters called traditionally
as 3T). An adhesive- that is RFL- is loaded to fabric in order
to adhere the fabric and tyre compound in the tyre
manufacturing process. The fabric is passed through a dip
solution tank, and then is dried in an oven. The treatment
parameters are very critical for getting optimum rubber
compound-cord adhesion.
The effect of twist on adhesion was also studied for both
nylon and polyester tyre cords. The results of H-adhesion
test are given in Table 2. An increase in cords’ surface area Changes in the shrinkage values for nylon and polyester
due to the increase in twist factor is thought to be responsible
Figure 4.

for better adhesion to rubber.
Shrinkage and Shrink Force
A comparison of shrinkage-shrink force values of greige
and dipped cords are shown in Table 3. It was observed that
nylon 66 tyre cords have higher shrinkage than that of the
polyester tyre cords. As the twist increases, linear density,
i.e. the weight of material in unit length increases (Table 3).
Therefore, shrinkage values of nylon and polyester cords are
increased with increasing twist factors. It has also been
observed that shrinkage values of dipped cords are lower
than those of greige cords for both nylon and polyester
(Figure 4). However, if different dipping conditions are
applied, these values can be changed as shrinkage and shrink
force values are controlled by different dipping conditions.
Shrinkage and shrink force test results
Table 3.
cords.
Low shrinkage value of polyester is an advantageous for the
tyre production process.
It is known that shrinkage force is a combination of
pretension force and the force that is developed in the
specimen as a result of heating. Shrinkage force increases
with total shrinkage for single fiber or untwisted yarn. But
this relationship becomes invalid with the increasing twist
factor due to the increase in the helix angle. In this study, it
was observed that shrinkage force values were decreased with
increasing twist factors for all greige cords and dipped nylon
cords, but was increased slightly for dipped polyester cords.
Fatigue Resistance
The flex fatigue resistance test results for dipped nylon

Linear density Greige cords Dipped cords

Cord type Twist factor (tex) Shrinkage (%) Shrink force (N) Shrinkage (%) Shrink force (N)
2.9 192 6.7 5.14 2.8 3.23
Nylon 66 5.0 198 7.6 4.71 3.0 3.00
6.7 204 8.6 4.13 3.6 3.07
3.1 226 4.8 5.06 1.2 0.87
Polyester 5.4 235 5.3 4.58 1.4 1.77
7.3 242 5.7 3.72 1.8 2.29

Table 4.At different twist factor fatigue resistance for nylon and polyester cords
Adhesion (N) Breaking strength (N)
Cord type Twist factor Unflexed sample Flexed sample (N) %Residual adhesion
%Residual
strength
(N) (100 000 cycle ) Unflexed sample Flexed sample
2.9 205 181 88 141 67 48
Polyester 5.0 307 256 83 147 92 63
6.7 299 248 83 137 110 80
3.1 376 300 80 117 113 97
Nylon 66 5.4 363 358 97 145 144 99
7.3 370 328 89 140 137 98
Effect of Twist Level on Tyre Cord Performance
Figure 5. Residual strength curve after fatigue test for nylon and
polyester cords.
and polyester tyre cords are given in Table 4. Three sets of
fatigue test samples which are simulations of tyres were
prepared for fatigue resistance measurements. Two sets of
samples were flexed applying 100 000 cycles at test equipment.
A set of sample is not flexed and is kept for comparison. The
evaluation of the results has been made by comparing residual
breaking strengths and adhesion values of flexed samples
and unflexed samples.
It has been observed that fatigue resistance was improved
significantly with the increasing twist factors for polyester
cords. The residual strength curves at three different twist
factors are shown in Figure 5. It is clear that residual
breaking load and adhesion values are increased with the
increasing twist factors for the polyester cords. On the other
hands, no changes are observed in the residual breaking
strengths and adhesion values for nylon 66 tyre cords. The
authors have concluded that fatigue resistance of Ny 66
cords is better than that of polyester cords for the different
twist factors studied. The higher cycles, are required for
nylon 66 tyre cords to obtain deteriorations.
It has been observed that although breaking strength was
decreased with the increasing twist factors, an increased was
recorded for fatigue resistance. The fibers with lower twist
factors are subjected to the destructive interactions during
the fatigue testing due to their low extensibility. When the
twist factor is increased, the fiber extensibility increases as
well, as a function of increased helix angle of yarns. This
results in, the protection of fibers from any kind of deformation.
Additionally, tyre cords act like a spring at the higher twist
factor and consequently can flex. Therefore the fatigue resistance
is improved when twist factor of the cord is increased.
Conclusion
Twist is a parameter affecting directly the tensile and
Fibers and Polymers 2009, Vol.10, No.2 225
indirectly the thermal properties of tyre cords. Breaking
strength was decreased between 3.1 and 7.3 twist factor
values, whereas breaking elongation was increased, for both
nylon 66 and polyester cords. Initial modulus values of
nylon and polyester cords were decreased with increasing
twist factor. Breaking energy was increased with increasing
twist factor of nylon cords and polyester cords.
The adhesion increases for both nylon and polyester cords
with increasing twist factor. Shrinkage values of greige
nylon and polyester cords were increased with increasing
twist factors. Polyester cords have very low shrinkages that
are advantageous for the tyre production process. Increasing
twist factor of polyester cords significantly improved the
fatigue resistance. Nylon 66 tyre cords showed excellent
fatigue resistance.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to KORDSA GLOBAL Industrial
Yarn and Tyre Cord Fabric Manufacturing and Trading Inc.
of Turkey for their support and the permission to use of their
laboratories.
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