US-20260123713-A1 - SHOE COMPONENT CO-MOLDED WITH PHYSICALLY FOAMED MIDSOLE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

US20260123713A1US 20260123713 A1US20260123713 A1US 20260123713A1US-20260123713-A1

Abstract

A shoe component co-molded with a physically foamed midsole includes a composite outsole and a physically foamed midsole. The composite outsole includes a base layer and a mesh layer having has a first surface and a second surface that face opposite directions. The first surface has a first surface structure and is engaged with the base layer. The second surface has a second surface structure different from the first surface structure. A bottom surface of the physically foamed midsole partially enters the second surface structure of the second surface to generate an anchor effect with the mesh layer. A method of manufacturing a shoe component includes placing a composite outsole into a foaming mold, injecting a thermoplastic foaming fluid into the foaming mold; foaming the thermoplastic foaming fluid through a supercritical fluid to form a physically foamed midsole for engaging with a mesh layer of the composite outsole.

Inventors

Tsung-Lin Yang
Yu-Ta Chang

Assignees

FENG TAY ENTERPRISES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241105

Claims (19)

1 . A shoe component co-molded with a physically foamed midsole, comprising: a composite outsole comprising a base layer and a mesh layer co-molded with the base layer, wherein the base layer has a first top surface and a first bottom surface; the first bottom surface is adapted to contact a ground; the mesh layer has a first surface and a second surface that face opposite directions; the first surface has a first surface structure; the second surface has a second surface structure; the first surface structure is different from the second surface structure; the first surface is engaged with the first top surface of the base layer; and a physically foamed midsole formed from a supercritical fluid through physical foaming, wherein the physically foamed midsole has a second top surface and a second bottom surface; a part of the second bottom surface enters the second surface structure of the second surface to generate an anchor effect with the mesh layer.
2 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer is a yarn fabric; the first surface structure is selected from the group consisting of a plurality of high-density pores, a plurality of loops, a thermoplastic film, and a combination thereof; the second surface structure is selected from the group consisting of a plurality of low-density pores, a plurality of loops, and a combination thereof.
3 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the plurality of high-density pores of the first surface are defined as 70 or more pores per square centimeter; the plurality of low-density pores of the second surface are defined as 60 or less pores per square centimeter.
4 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the thermoplastic film is bonded with the mesh layer by heating and softening a thermoplastic film material; a thickness of the thermoplastic film ranges from 0.05 mm to 1 mm; the first top surface of the base layer is bonded with the thermoplastic film through heating and melting.
5 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 2 , wherein no adhesive layer is provided between the second surface of the composite outsole and the second bottom surface of the physically foamed midsole.
6 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising a woven shoe upper, wherein the woven shoe upper is engaged with the second top surface of the physically foamed midsole; the woven shoe upper has a third bottom surface; a part of the second top surface of the physically foamed midsole enters the third bottom surface to generate an anchor effect with the woven shoe upper; no adhesive layer is provided between the second top surface and the third bottom surface.
7 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a first woven layer, an attachment layer, and a second woven layer; the first woven layer and the second woven layer are respectively bonded with the attachment layer and are respectively located on opposite sides of the attachment layer; an outer side of the first woven layer has the second surface; an outer side of the second woven layer has the first surface.
8 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein both the base layer and the physically foamed midsole comprise a first thermoplastic material; the first thermoplastic material is selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyamide, polyester, ionomer, and a combination thereof; the base layer is a foamed body or a non-foamed body.
9 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the mesh layer comprises a second thermoplastic material; the second thermoplastic material is selected from the group consisting of polyester, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and a combination thereof.
10 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a woven shoe upper, wherein the woven shoe upper is engaged with the second top surface of the physically foamed midsole; the woven shoe upper comprises a third thermoplastic material; the third thermoplastic material is selected from the group consisting of polyester, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and a combination thereof.
11 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the mesh layer is made of polyester or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU); the physically foamed midsole is made of polyester or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU); the woven shoe upper is made of polyester or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU); no adhesive layer is provided between the mesh layer and the physically foamed midsole and between the physically foamed midsole and the woven shoe upper.
12 . The shoe component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the base layer is a thermosetting material; the thermosetting material is selected from the group consisting of thermosetting polyurethane, rubber, and a combination thereof; the base layer is a foamed body or a non-foamed body.
13 . A method of manufacturing a shoe component co-molded with a physically foamed midsole, comprising: step S1: providing a composite outsole, wherein a mesh layer of the composite outsole has a first surface and a second surface that face opposite directions; the first surface has a first surface structure; the second surface has a second surface structure; the first surface structure is different from the second surface structure; a base layer of the composite outsole is engaged with the first surface by co-molding; step S2: placing the composite outsole into a foaming mold and reserving a foaming space; injecting a thermoplastic foaming fluid, which comprises a supercritical fluid, into the foaming space of the foaming mold, wherein before the thermoplastic foaming fluid is injected into the foaming mold, an air pressure in the foaming mold, which is preset, ranges from 5 bar to 50 bar; and step S3: releasing the air pressure in the foaming mold to foam the thermoplastic foaming fluid through the supercritical fluid to form a physically foamed midsole, wherein a part of the physically foamed midsole enters the second surface structure of the second surface of the mesh layer to generate an anchor effect with the mesh layer, thereby obtaining a shoe component.
14 . The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the mesh layer is a yarn fabric; the first surface structure is selected from the group consisting of a plurality of high-density pores, a plurality of loops, a thermoplastic film, and a combination thereof; the second surface structure is selected from the group consisting of a plurality of low-density pores, a plurality of loops, and a combination thereof.
15 . The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein in step S1, the composite outsole is provided by placing the mesh layer into an injection mold, injecting an outsole material into the injection mold, and solidifying the outsole material to form the base layer to engage the base layer with the first surface of the mesh layer, thereby obtaining the composite outsole.
16 . The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein in step S1, the composite outsole is provided by directly printing an outsole material on the first surface of the mesh layer by using a 3D printing apparatus, and solidifying the outsole material to form the base layer to engage the base layer with the mesh layer, thereby obtaining the composite outsole.
17 . The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein in step S1, the composite outsole is provided by placing the mesh layer into a molding tool, injecting, by an injection apparatus, an outsole material into the molding tool to correspond to first surface of the mesh layer, and solidifying the outsole material to form base layer to engage the base layer with the first surface of the mesh layer, thereby obtaining the composite outsole.
18 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein in step S2, a woven shoe upper, which fits around a last in advance, is placed into the foaming mold and the composite outsole is placed in a bottom cavity of the foaming mold; when the foaming mold is activated to close, a third bottom surface of the woven shoe upper faces the second surface of the composite outsole, and the foaming space is formed between the woven shoe upper and the composite outsole.
19 . The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein in step S3, the thermoplastic foaming fluid is foamed in the foaming space to form the physically foamed midsole and the physically foamed midsole is located between the woven shoe upper and the composite outsole; a side of the physically foamed midsole partially enters the second surface to generate the anchor effect with the mesh layer, another side of the physically foamed midsole partially enters the third bottom surface to generate an anchor effect with the woven shoe upper.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates generally to a shoe component structure and a manufacturing technology, and more particularly to a shoe component co-molded with a physically foamed midsole and a method of manufacturing the same. Description of Related Art A conventional shoe basically includes a sole, an upper, an insole, etc. The sole is typically composed of an outsole and a midsole. In a conventional method of manufacturing shoes, the upper, the midsole, the outsole, and other components are manufactured individually; complicated roughing treatment is performed on a surface of the upper, a surface of the midsole, and a surface of the outsole in a manual way; an adhesive is coated on the roughed surface of the upper, the roughed surface of the midsole, and the roughed surface of the outsole; then the upper and the outsole are adhered to two opposite sides of the midsole to form a shoe product. However, the conventional method of manufacturing shoes includes complicated processing procedures and requires massive manpower cost in roughing, applying the adhesive, adhering, and other processing procedures, which lower the overall production efficiency. Moreover, the chemical adhesive used in applying the adhesive has a certain degree of poison and causes harms to health when workers are exposed to the chemical adhesive in long term. Additionally, when a foamed midsole of the conventional shoe is adhered to the outsole through the adhesive, a quality and a composition of the adhesive affect an adhesion effect and an adhesion strength between the foamed midsole and the outsole. If a peel strength and the adhesion effect between the foamed midsole and the outsole are not satisfactory, the foamed midsole and the outsole might be easily detached from each other and cause injury if a user performs a high-intensity exercise for a long time while wearing the sole. A conventional midsole typically is a chemically foamed body. Before the foamed midsole is adhered to the outsole or the upper, the foamed midsole is placed in an oven for solidifying. During solidifying, the size constriction rate of the foamed midsole might become unstable easily, which might cause different toe springs across the foamed midsole. As a result, when the foamed midsole is adhered to the outsole or the upper in the subsequent processing procedures, mismatching of the sizes might be easily resulted and excessive adhesive might be present at an adhesion between the foamed midsole and the outsole or the upper, which increase the defect rate of the method of manufacturing shoes. Moreover, a chemically foamed midsole is typically made by performing injection foaming with a reduced mold which is reduced significantly in terms of scale based on an end product. After the injection and at a moment of opening the reduced mold, an intermediate in the reduced mold suddenly expands to a foamed body with a volume, which is a multiple of a volume of the reduced mold, duo to different pressures. Then, the foamed body is processed upon requirements. As the injection chemical foaming involves special volume changes, the chemically foamed midsole could not be co-molded with other shoe components during the midsole injection process. For example, if the chemically foamed midsole is required to be co-molded with the outsole, the chemically foamed midsole is taken out after opening the mold; then, the chemically foamed midsole is processed preliminarily and then is co-molded with the outsole or other shoe components under high temperature and high pressure. Recently, the midsole could be manufactured by injection physical foaming, wherein the physically foamed midsole does not require a reduced mold, as is necessary for the chemically foamed midsole. The physically foamed midsole could be manufactured by performing injection physical foaming on a mold cavity having the same size as the end product of the foamed midsole. Although the physically foamed midsole could be co-molded with other shoe components, an adhesion strength of a resulted product might not meet the standard requirement. The reason is that temperature and pressure during injection physical foaming are not sufficient for good adhesion between the physically foamed midsole and other shoe components placed in the mold cavity. As a result, although the physically foamed midsole could be co-molded with other shoe components, the adhesion strength between different shoe components, including an adhesion strength between the physically foamed midsole and an outsole formed by co-molding, still has room for improvement. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a shoe component co-molded with a physically foamed midsole and a method of manufacturing the same, wherein the shoe component is engaged with other shoe components through physical anchor effect to improve an engaging strength between an