Automotive industry is currently looking for an eco-friendly tire with low rolling resistance coefficient (RRc), better traction, wear resistance, and fatigue properties. Presently, solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR)-silica systems are pursued for balancing between traction and RRc. However, the interaction between SSBR and silica is not enough to give satisfactory results. Functionalized-SSBR (FSSBR) leads to better rubber-silica interaction due to introduction of polar groups in the polymer chain. The present study investigates the influence of FSSBR, highly dispersible (HD) silica, and its hybrid filler systems with organically modified nanoclay (ONC) and exfoliated graphene nanoplatelet (xGnP). Both M H , and Δtorque were higher for the FSSBR-HD silica compound (S1) with the lowest change in storage modulus (ΔG') value, due to higher polymer-filler interaction. S1 exhibited 16% ice traction and 12% wet traction improvement with 29% lower rolling resistance over SSBR-silica compound. S1 showed the best wet traction rating and wear resistance. Replacing small portion of silica by ONC and xGnP improved the properties further. At 5 phr of nanofiller, TEM images revealed well-dispersed nanofillers in the FSSBR matrix. The xGnP compound showed the least crack growth. For both the cases, abradability decreased with higher nanofiller amount, due to better reinforcement of the rubber.

Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) has potential to meet stringent requirements of reduced rolling resistance coefficient (RRc) of tires by lowering the hysteresis of the compound. Syndiotactic polymers could impart their reinforcing nature to the matrix, enhancing compound modulus, hysteresis and fatigue cut growth (FCG) properties with an added advantage of compound weight reduction. In this study, two grades of VCR (Vinyl Cis Rubber) with 12% (VCR412) and 17% (VCR617) of syndiotacticity have been introduced in a 50/50 Natural rubber (NR)/cis‐Butadiene rubber (BR) based sidewall compound. 50% and 100% replacement of BR by VCR have been experimented in modified formulations from where 15 phr of carbon black is also withdrawn. This modification led to reduction of 24% and 18% in loss factor (tan δ) at 70°C in VCR412 and VCR617 respectively in comparison with reference compound. Improvement in 12% dynamic stiffness is also found by employing 50 phr of VCR617. Homogeneous dispersion of VCR in rubber matrix is confirmed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis. Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) rate of sidewall compound with VCR617 reveals lower crack propagation realized by crack path deviation. Complete replacement of BR by VCR617 lead to optimized thermo‐mechanical properties related to hysteresis, dynamic stiffness and fatigue resistance.