Eco-friendly soles "light as humongous" "stir" PU footwear market
2022-11-27 20:40
It breaks the shortcomings of traditional rubber and EVA soles, while having the advantages of light weight, it realizes environmental recycling, and can use 3D printing to realize the customization and personalized design of shoes, helping PU shoes industry to enhance the competitiveness of the industry. It is the PU midsole application that Zhejiang Huafeng New Materials Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Huafeng Group, has been working on in recent years.
Recently, Huafeng New Materials and PU (polyurethane) midsole application innovation trend program appeared at the 4th International Footwear Innovation Summit (F.I.S) in 2019, which attracted the attention of many footwear brands from all over the world. Right now, many footwear brands such as New Balance, Anta, Peak and others are throwing olive branches at Huafeng.
It is reported that the F.I.S summit is a key channel to connect shoe brands and manufacturers, filling the gap between industries in different fields.
Overcoming PU weight
The sole is as light as a feather
According to reports, Huafeng New Materials combines PU materials with lightweight PU midsoles, 3D printing, and environmentally friendly recycling technologies. It proposes a development plan for the application innovation trend of PU midsoles to fill the gap for the development of downstream PU shoe industry. Two years later, the PU midsole application will achieve initial mass production.
"Rubber and EVA are commonly used in the global footwear industry, and PU only accounts for 9% of the total global production of shoes, which shows that the market share is extremely low." Xu Xu, manager of the market department of Huafeng New Materials, said the reason for the PU material It is heavier than EVA, which reduces the comfort level. This shortcoming makes PU unable to show its foothold in the footwear market.
However, the flaws cannot be concealed. PU has hydrolytic properties, and its environmental performance is unmatched by rubber and EVA. In other words, as long as the PU midsole is lightweight, the PU midsole application will have unlimited market space.
Three years ago, Huafeng New Materials formed a research and development team of more than 30 people to overcome this problem in the second half of last year.
"Our team has developed a suction film negative pressure technology, which reduces the forming density of PU midsoles by 20% compared with traditional technologies." Xu Xu said that the density of PU midsoles gradually decreased from 0.35g / cm3 to 0.25g / cm3 until 0.23g / cm3, which realizes the light weight of PU; and the rebound rate is 65%, which is much higher than EVA; the compression permanent deformation rate is 5%, which is far lower than EVA. This means that the PU midsole is more comfortable than EVA and the appearance is more stable.
Install "accelerator" for PU
Realize recycling and 3D printing
If light weight makes PU and EVA stand on the same starting line, then Huafeng's research and development of environmental protection recycling and 3D printing applications for PU midsoles is like installing an "accelerator" for PU, which greatly enhances the competitiveness of PU shoe industry To make it outperform the competition in the shoe material industry.
In Huafeng New Materials, the reporter saw a pair of colorful PU soles. "This is the PU midsole produced from PU waste." When the reporter took over the PU sole delivered by Xu Xu, the first feeling was "light as a feather." Xu Xu said that the production process should always pay attention to the filling rate, rebound rate and density of the waste. The most important thing is that the particle size is coordinated with the pouring speed of the pouring system on the machine.
At the same time, Huafeng New Material combines the PU midsole with 3D printing technology to realize the customized and personalized design of shoes. According to reports, this technology is based on digital model files, using adhesive materials to construct objects by layer-by-layer printing. Through 3D printing technology, PU midsole manufacturing speed will be much faster than traditional manufacturing.
Technology innovation drives development
Add momentum to the PU shoe industry
"The PU midsole application innovation trend program is precisely Huafeng New Material's innovative masterpiece based on the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainable development." Zhao Yebao, Huafeng New Material R & D Manager, said the introduction of this program has further enriched PU footwear products Matrix will add new impetus to the development of the PU shoe industry and help the PU shoe industry to enhance the competitiveness of the industry to create more new business opportunities and development.
Technological innovation is the "winning magic weapon" for Huafeng Group to optimize existing industries, make articles on the industrial chain, and build an efficient and coordinated industrial system. Currently, Huafeng Group has 1 national enterprise technology center, 1 national postdoctoral workstation, 1 provincial key enterprise research institute, 2 provincial research institutes and 8 research and development sub-centers. As of the end of 2018, Huafeng's 10 leading products had 330 national authorized patents, issued and implemented 120 international national industry standards, and had more than 100 international advanced, domestic leading and provincial new product certifications.
In the future, Huafeng Group will continue to strengthen the cultivation of technology research and development with a multi-level and open technology innovation system of "one point multi-core, open collaboration", and is committed to the success of customers to innovate, increase differentiation, high-end and The research and development of environmentally friendly products continue to enhance the company's core competitiveness and drive the high-quality development of the industry.