Sports sneakers consumer market upgrade: new TPU materials attract attention

HC Plastics News: With the World Cup in Russia, a variety of exciting moments have attracted enthusiastic attention around the world, including sports equipment at the foot of the players - sports shoes. In order to compete for the world hegemony, major brand suppliers have made great efforts in the design of shoes, especially the continuous optimization of training shoes materials, which inevitably affects the development of material technology.

In the design of sports shoes, there is an important part, the sole. For a pair of sneakers, the material and design of the sole is equivalent to determining the technical content of the pair of sneakers. If you are a sports shoe technical control, you must know this sole material - polymer polyurethane synthetic material. This type of material is commonly referred to as PU, TPU material, commonly used in basketball, tennis shoes midsole, can also be directly used in casual shoes outsole.

Recently, Lubrizol Corporation of the United States launched a new TPU material for sports and leisure, and demonstrated a lightweight footwear design at the new product launch, giving the footwear design high performance while also meeting sustainability and The need for automation level solutions.

It is understood that Lubrizol is focused on developing sustainable replacement materials and hopes to improve performance by improving materials to cope with changing consumer trends. As a new engineering polymer, Estane TRX and BounCell-X have a unique range of material properties that are used to replace traditional thermoset rubber. For example, the Estane series of TPU products are between elastic rubber and rigid plastic, with a variety of physical and functional combinations, and can be molded with molded parts and composite materials, so the Estane TRX TPU is used for the outsole.

At the same time, Lubrizol used BounCell-X nitrogen-filled TPU foam technology in order to provide cushioning foam for the soles of training shoes. Coupled with 3D printing technology, the single material of the sole provides a number of performance advantages such as density, support and cushioning. The use of Estane TPU and 3D printing technology expands the design space and allows suppliers to mass produce.

In addition, Lubrizol's new fiber technology also brings a different sense of design to the comfortable stretch of the shoes and the texture innovation. And, with new adhesive and adhesive film technologies, the entire design uses less materials and components, simplifies processing and assembly steps, and reduces waste and better use of recyclable materials. All these efforts will make Lubrizol's production closer to consumers and achieve corporate development goals.

Today, materials technology is growing rapidly. Polyurethane materials are easier to process in the gap than epoxy resins and perform better than polyester fibers. In particular, composite materials such as new polyurethanes used in footwear production have excellent processing ability and performance compared with unsaturated polyester resins.

Not long ago, Mondial Suole of Italy chose Dow's Enerlyte polyurethane elastomer to make the sole of its iTen series. Since the company's shoes are aimed at the sports and leisure footwear market, the material is chosen based on its soft touch and durability. In addition, the composition and form of this material not only enables suppliers to develop a comfortable and high-performance sole, but also the material of the sole is water-foamed, making it more environmentally friendly than other sole materials.

The choice of material for the foam of the shoe is greatly related to whether the product can meet the customer's performance requirements, such as the balance between comfort, durability, flexibility, light weight and cost. The midsole made of a new polyester material makes the shoe lighter, with excellent resilience, durability and softness. For example, Adidas' Energy Boost foam running shoes are designed for high flexibility for better comfort and performance.

As a raw material supplier, Dow is also interested in the growing footwear market, in addition to its interest in the industrial and construction adhesives sector. Its research and development based on "INFUSEOBCs" and other footwear materials have more obvious advantages and improvements than conventional materials such as EVA. Currently, Dow Chemical is actively focusing on the field of composite materials.

Editor in charge: Zhang Lan

PVC Normal Clear Film