Development of Ballistic Resistant Airless 20 Inch Wheels for the Interim Armored Vehicle (IAV) and Future Combat Systems (FCS).

The proposed Phase II study is directed at development of a run-flat tire for military vehicles using a patented tire manufacturing technology from MASYS (Israel) (US Patent #6,032,710 - 2000). This concept of the run-flat tire consists of a unique tread design supported with a spiral spring reinforcement element. This tread-reinforcement combination gives a high level of adaptability and puncture proof operation in a variety of terrain while maintaining rolling resistance, ride, handling and other performance characteristics related to conventional pneumatic tires. MASYS (Israel) will make a 13-inch tire prototype for Army testing. This study will also include the development of a run-flat tire by inserting a spiral spring into a 15-inch tire using an Akron Rubber Development Laboratory, Inc. (ARDL) concept. A key to these unique designs is the use the spiral spring reinforcement as a replacement of the pneumatic tire. ARDL proposes to further study, optimize and develop airless wheel-tire concepts to ultimately achieve a spring reinforcement for inserting to the current radial tires. · The proposed Phase II study is to continue the current development of a run flat tire is based on a spiral spring reinforcement elements. The development will be based on the following two ideas/concepts: (1) MASYS patented idea of molding the tire around the spiral spring. This idea will be tested using 13-inch prototype tires from MASYS (Israel) (2) ARDL concept of inserting the spring element into the current commercial and army (radial) tires. This idea will be tested using 15-inch prototype tires developed by ARDL. The Phase II effort will include the selection of one concept/idea for the prototype manufacturing 20-inch Army tire. This design will be evaluated and optimized based on performance, durability, manufacturability, reliability, weight and cost factors for 20-inch tires. The Phase II effort will include the submission of ten prototype 20-inch tires for TACOM durability testing based on the selected manufacturing concept.