HC Chemical News: All large sportswear brands are researching the possibility of printing high-performance footwear and are supported by materials and printing equipment manufacturers.
Adidas has established a strategic partnership with CarbonD, a US professional 3D printing company, to manufacture Futurecraft 4D high-performance shoes. The German sportswear brand says it uses 17 years of operational data to design a new midsole and uses digital footwear component manufacturing to eliminate the need for traditional prototyping or molding.
Carbon's digital photosynthetic (DLS) process uses digital light projection, oxygen permeable optics and liquid resins to create high performance and durable polymer products.
Performance parameter
The operational data of the Adidas library is used to incorporate functional considerations into the midsole design. The use of these data allows Adidas to design a midsole that combines sportiness, cushioning, stability and comfort.
Compared to standard 3D printing manufacturing methods, the DLS process is said to address issues such as low production speed and scale, poor surface quality, and color and material limitations.
The midsole is made of liquid, and Adidas says the resulting grid has 20,000 individual support points that optimize energy return.
Nike is now also printing the upper. Eluid Kipchoke won a pair of 3D printed TPU uppers in the 2018 Viking London Marathon. The company claims that this is the first time that a high-performance footwear upper has been made in this way.
Winning way
The upper is made using solid deposit modeling. In this method, the filaments are unwound from the coil, melted, and then layered. Nike says printing technology can make prototypes 16 times faster than other production processes.
The company also uses this technology to incorporate athlete-specific data into textile geometry. Nike uses data obtained from athletes and analyzes the data to confirm the ideal composition of the material. This analysis will be used to design textiles.
According to the company, 3D printed textiles are more dynamic than traditional woven fabrics. This is because the warp and weft are intertwined.
According to the company, “The advantages of Flyprint textiles are reflected in the fusion properties of the materials. In knitted or woven textiles, there is frictional resistance between the interwoven covered yarn and the weft yarn. In printed textiles, it is more likely to achieve precise coordinated control. ."
It also adds that 3D printed textiles are "lighter and more breathable" than earlier fabrics.
Rapid development
The design of the Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint on Kipchoge's feet is based on his feedback on the shoes he wore at the 2017 Berlin Marathon. His shoes in the 2018 London Marathon were 11 grams lighter than the first time.
Reebok's liquid factory process was launched in 2016, using software and robotics to draw shoes in three dimensions. BASF's liquid polyurethane material for Reebok is used to accurately draw parts of shoes on a three-dimensional plane.
The liquid flow rate shoe made of this polyurethane system can directly make the outsole instead of separately making the outsole through the mold. Once absorbed, the material begins to solidify. The sides of the outs are surrounded by "wings" that provide a more customized fit and better support for the entire foot.
Improve performance
New Balance and Formlabs, also a Boston-based 3D printing specialist, signed an agreement in 2017 to implement larger 3D printing. The two companies are developing footwear-specific materials and printers to create products that improve athlete performance. Its photo-curing print Form2 powers the printing process.
This is not the first time New Balance has been involved in 3D printing: As early as 2013, JackBolas became the first track and field athlete to compete with spikes made with custom 3D printing technology. To complete the design, New Balance uses force plates, in-shoe sensors, and motion capture systems to simulate events to capture individual biomechanical data.
This initial 3D printing project sparked custom printing of soft parts needed for further research into the midsole. New Balance launched Zante Generate in 2016 and called it the first full-length 3D printing midsole. It uses a 3D system of DuraForm TPU elastomer laser sintered powder for selective laser sintering manufacturing processes to create a midsole layer by layer. The resulting product is a midsole with a complex honeycomb structure that New Balance says is “best balance†in terms of flexibility, strength, weight and durability.
Bonded together
The 3D printed sole and upper must still be bonded together. According to AtomLab, the most challenging step in the technical field of shoe machine manufacturer Atom's R&D device is to bond the outsole to the upper. The company has partnered with Covestro to develop a process for applying adhesive polyurethane raw materials to the sole or upper through digital printing.
Atom uses a fuse to make a variant of the hot melt layer technology to apply the adhesive. The filaments of the melt processable adhesive are first melted, then the molten adhesive is applied according to the digital printing layout, and then the pressure is applied to join the sole to the upper to establish a firm and permanent adhesive bond between the two. .
According to Atom, this use of adhesive filaments is fast and efficient. Accurate and repeatable for use in absorbent bases. Solid filaments are used, so no additional drying process is required.
Additionally, the binder is applied by the melt and pre-activated. If the placement time is long enough, no pre-heat activation is required, which saves two processing steps.
Although it is still in its early stages and development focuses on high-end limited edition products, these projects clearly show that the development potential of polyurethane materials may make large-scale implementation of additive manufacturing a reality in the sportswear market.
Editor in charge: Zhang Lan
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