The soft and novel “popcorn” shoes are the most popular sports shoes of the world-famous sports brand “Adidas” and are also the core high-tech of “Adidas”. Today, this technology is no longer exclusive to Adidas. The new foam material independently developed by Ningbo researchers has opened the door to the market, with sales exceeding 50 million yuan.
When the reporter was interviewing at the Polymer Functional Materials Center of the Ningbo New Materials Joint Research Institute, he found that on the outside of the shoes displayed here, you can clearly see the soles protruding like popcorn, adding some extra dimension to the simple soles. taste. After asking, I found out that these were the popular “popcorn” shoes.
Dr. Zhai Wentao, a researcher at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of the Polymer Functional Materials Center of the Joint Research Institute, has been engaged in basic and applied research on polymer microfoaming materials for many years. He held up the midsole of a shoe and introduced to reporters that the key to “popcorn” shoes lies in the midsole. “A new type of foam material is used in the midsole of the shoe. This material can not only make the shoe lighter, but also make the shoe lighter.” , environmentally friendly, and also brings excellent functions such as high rebound, structural cushioning, and low compression permanent deformation, making every step of the runner light. “The midsoles of previous sports shoes used traditional EVA. Foam material, this material cannot be melted and recycled, and it also contains some toxic and harmful substances, and its comfort is not good. Therefore, when “popcorn” shoes were launched on the market, they attracted a large number of young people.
Dr. Zhai Wentao said that since 2013, they have cooperated with Jinjiang Guosheng New Material Technology to develop large-scale preparation technology of TPU “popcorn” using supercritical CO2 fluid as the foaming agent and TPU “popcorn” steam-formed sports shoes. Midsole technology and related technologies have been authorized by 4 Chinese invention patents, applied for 4 Chinese invention patents, 1 international patent, and 1 U.S. patent, forming an independent intellectual property network. This new material not only has excellent mechanical properties, good resilience and compression properties, but also greatly improves processing efficiency. For example, he said that a foam shoe material factory with sales of 500 million yuan requires 1,000 to 1,500 workers. However, using this new type of material, due to the high degree of automation in the processing process, only two to three hundred people are needed, and the production efficiency is very high. Improved exponentially.
At present, they have cooperated with Saucony, a century-old professional running brand in the United States, to launch EVERUN technology. Related technology products have been successfully used in the brand’s “Triumph ISO2”, “Hurricane ISO2”, “Guide 9”, “Triumph ISO3”, and “FREEDOM” ISO” and other series of running shoes, the domestic price of each pair of the above series of running shoes exceeds 1,000 yuan. Dr. Zhai Wentao said that the current sales of the cooperative company have reached 50 million yuan. In January this year, he and the cooperative company CEO went to the United States to discuss the development plan of the new “popcorn” midsole for 2017~2018 with Saucony.
According to reports, in addition to the research and development of new elastomer foaming materials, the polymer functional materials platform is also carrying out cooperation with enterprises on cushioning foaming materials and high flame-retardant structural foaming materials for automobiles, rail transit, and electronic and electrical packaging. cooperate. According to reports, the center is currently negotiating cooperation with a large enterprise with annual sales of tens of billions of yuan, and is expected to sign a cooperation agreement in the near future.
“After settling in the Ningbo New Materials Joint Research Institute, we will not only cooperate with other platforms in the institute to incubate each other, but also actively link up corporate incubation projects. Technology industrialization is the goal of our scientific research.” Dr. Zhai Wentao said. According to the plan, in 2017, the center will be able to form 2 to 3 technologies that can be transformed, apply for 6 to 7 related patents, and add 1 new industrialization project.
Source|Zhejiang Online-Ningbo Channel
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