Abstract: A3-D finite element model was established by using ANSYS to simulate the vulcanization process of10． 00R20-type radial tire．The effects of different preheating temperatures on the temperature field and extent field of tire vulcanization were then quantitatively analyzed．The results show that the flowing time of heated water in capsulae shortens by2min and the vulcanization time in curing machine shortens by1min with an initial vulcanization temperature increasing of10℃．At the same time‚the homogeneousness of tire vulcanization state improves by10％．The results also shown that higher preheating temperature will result in shorter tire curing time in curing machine and better vulcanization homogeneousness．By synthetically considering all the factors influencing the vulcanization in preheating process‚it is concluded that the optimum preheating temperature is not more than105℃.

Key words: tire vulcanization, optimum vulcanization temperature, preheating