Heat treatment of a reinforcement element

A method for manufacturing a reinforced ply comprising an elastomer composition and at least one metallic reinforcer, the method comprising at least the following successive steps:

• (a) unwinding the at least one metallic reinforcer from storage means on which the at least one metallic reinforcer is wound;
• (b) heat treating the at least one metallic reinforcer that has been unwound under temperature and time conditions such that T+13.7·ln(t)>175 and such that T+28.4·ln(t)<398, where T is a treatment temperature in C.° and t is a time for which the at least one metallic reinforcer is kept at the temperature T in seconds, wherein tis within an interval ranging from more than 0 to less than 20 s, and wherein temperature T is less than or equal to 300° C. if t is less than 2 s, and T−23.8·ln(t)<315 if t ranges from 2 s to less than 20 s;
• and
• (c) feeding the at least one metallic reinforcer that has been heat treated into a step in which the at least one metallic reinforcer is embedded in an elastomer composition in order to obtain a reinforced ply,
• wherein the temperature T is within an interval ranging from 200 to 400° C., and
• wherein the metallic reinforcer is not coated with a polymer composition prior to step (c).