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Posted Septermber, 2000

UMaine Professor Developing Technique to Evaluate Tire Integrity

Note: Peterson is available to discuss his research between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at 207-581-2129, mpeterson@umeme.maine.edu.

While questions continue to be raised about the failure of Firestone tires on Ford Explorers, Michael "Mick" Peterson, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering a professor at the University of Maine, has developed a unique machine that evaluates the structural integrity of tires.

The machine uses ultrasonic waves to pinpoint the location of small cracks or other weaknesses that may affect tire performance. Such imperfections are often invisible to the naked eye and other methods of analysis, such as x-ray and laser shearography, and thus escape detection. Peterson has been working on tire integrity for ten years since his graduate student days at Northwestern University in Illinois.

Today, he operates a laboratory for tire analysis in Crosby Lab at UMaine. "Ultrasonic waves are the same as the ultrasound that doctors use," he says. "The machine can scan an entire tire in about seven minutes and identify the spots where there may be damage." The ultrasound method is based on the principle that the attentuation of the sound waves depends on the nature of the material through which the waves travel. As sound waves travel through sections of a tire, possible problem spots show up as lower points in the amplitude pattern.

Peterson's research is aimed at determining exactly what those points mean for the tire integrity and performance. He has teamed up with the nation's largest tire retreading company, Bandag, Inc. of Muscatine Iowa to propose that the National Science Foundation help to fund a new research facility to be located at UMaine.

"Tires are not semi-conductors, and I think this kind of research may be viewed as old technology. However, when the tire companies say they don't know exactly why a particular tire failed, they're probably telling the truth. The scientific approach can get very complicated, and it's easier to just test tires to determine how they'll perform. What we're proposing is to go back to the first principles, to understand exactly why the belts separate or the tread comes apart from the casing. As things stand, we don't know."

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