Methods of manufacturing articles utilizing foam particles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11090863-B2
Application number	US-201916693206-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2019
Priority date	Jun 1, 2017
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

Methods for manufacturing articles of footwear are provided. In various aspects, the methods comprise utilizing additive manufacturing methods with foam particles. In some aspects, the disclosed methods comprise selectively depositing a binding material on foam particles in a target area such that the binding material coats at least a portion of defining surfaces of the foam particles with the binding material. The binding material is then cured to affix foam particles in the target area to one another. In various aspects, the disclosed methods can be used to manufacturer articles with sub-regions that differential levels of affixing between the foam particles, and thereby resulting in sub-regions with different properties such as density, resilience, and/or flexural modulus. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. An article comprising:
a structure formed of a plurality of affixed foam particles, wherein
each individual foam particle of the plurality of affixed foam particles is formed of a thermoplastic elastomer material, and the individual foam particle of the plurality is affixed to one or more adjacent foam particles by one or more binding regions on an outer surface of the individual foam particle and between the one or more binding regions on the outer surface of the individual foam particle are a plurality of gaps separating the individual foam particle from the one or more adjacent foam particles to which it is affixed, the gaps occupying at least 10 percent of a total volume of the structure,
the one or more adjacent foam particles comprise the thermoplastic elastomer material,
the binding regions include a portion of binding material from the individual foam particle, a portion of binding material from at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, a portion of the thermoplastic elastomer material from the individual foam particle intermingled with a portion of the thermoplastic elastomer material from at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, or any combination thereof,
wherein, prior to affixing, at least 20 percent of the plurality of foam particles are spheroid or ellipsoid in shape and have a number average particle size of about 0.04 millimeters to about 10 millimeters in a longest dimension, and at least 20 percent of the spheroid or ellipsoid foam particles in the structure retain a substantially spheroid or ellipsoid shape.

2. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the binding regions include dissolved and re-solidified thermoplastic elastomer material from the individual foam particle, from the at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, or both.

3. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the binding regions include dissolved and re-solidified binder material from the individual foam particle, from the at least one of the one or more adjacent foam particles, or both.

4. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the article is a component used in manufacture of an article of footwear, apparel or sporting equipment.

5. The article according to claim 4 , wherein the component used in manufacture of an article of footwear, apparel or sporting equipment is a cushioning element or an impact absorbing element.

6. The article according to claim 5 , wherein the component used in manufacture of an article of footwear, apparel or sporting equipment is a cushioning element is a cushioning element for an article of footwear.

7. The article according to claim 6 , wherein the cushioning element for an article of footwear is a midsole, an outsole, a combination midsole-outsole unit, a sock-liner, an ankle collar, or a heal-cushioning pad.

8. The article according to claim 4 , wherein the component used in manufacture of an article of footwear, apparel or sporting equipment is a pre-form.

9. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the article is characterized by a plurality of sub-regions comprising a first sub-region characterized by a first property and a second sub-region characterized by a second property, wherein the first property is not equal to the second property, and wherein the first property and the second property are flexural modulus, stiffness, bulk density, or resilience.

10. The article according to claim 9 , wherein the first property is at least 10 percent greater than the second property.

11. The article according to claim 9 , wherein the article is characterized by a plurality of cross-sectional sub-regions comprising a first sub-region characterized by a first flexural modulus and a second sub-region characterized by a second flexural modulus, wherein the first flexural modulus is not equal to the second flexural modulus.

12. The article according to claim 9 , wherein the article is characterized by a plurality of cross-sectional sub-regions comprising a first sub-region characterized by a first bulk density and a second sub-region characterized by a second bulk density, wherein the first bulk density is not equal to the second bulk density.

13. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of foam particles has an aspect ratio of about 0.1 to about 1.0.

14. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of foam particles has a number average particle size of about 0.5 millimeters to about 5 millimeters in the longest dimension.

15. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of foam particles comprise foam particles having a density of about 0.1 grams per cubic centimeter to about 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter.

16. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer material is selected from a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, a thermoplastic polyurea elastomer, a thermoplastic polyether elastomer, a thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer, a thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer, a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer, a thermoplastic copolyetheramide elastomer, a thermoplastic styrene diene copolymer elastomer, a thermoplastic styrene block copolymer elastomer, a thermoplastic polyamide elastomer, a thermoplastic polyimide elastomer, any copolymer thereof, and any blend thereof.

17. The article according to claim 16 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer material comprises a thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer.

18. The article according to claim 17 , wherein the thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer comprises long-chain ester units of formula I:

and short-chain ester units of formula II:

wherein R 1 comprises a divalent radical remaining after removal of terminal hydroxyl groups from poly(alkylene ether) having a carbon-to-oxygen ratio from about 2.0 to about 4.3 and a number average molecular weight from about 400 Daltons to about 6000 Daltons; wherein R 2 comprises a divalent radical remaining after removal of carboxyl groups from a dicarboxylic acid having a molecular weight less than about 300 Daltons; wherein R 3 comprises a divalent radical remaining after removal of hydroxyl groups from a low molecular weight diol having a molecular weight less than about 250 Daltons; wherein R 4 comprises a divalent radical remaining after removal of carboxyl groups from a dicarboxylic acid having a molecular weight less than about 300 Daltons; wherein the long-chain ester units represented by formula I comprise about 5 weight percent to about 95 weight percent of the thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer; and wherein the short-chain ester units represented by formula II comprise about 95 weight percent to about 5 weight percent of the thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer.

19. The article according to claim 18 , wherein the long-chain ester units represented by formula I comprise about 10 weight percent to about 60 weight percent of the thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer.

20. The article according to claim 18 , wherein the short-chain ester units represented by formula II comprise about 40 weight percent to about 90 weight percent of the thermoplastic copolyetherester elastomer.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• CONSTANTINOU Jay
• Doremus Harleigh
• Folgar Luis
• Kvamme Brandon
• Schiller Denis

Classifications

• B33Y70/10

  Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials · CPC title

• B33Y70/00

  Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• Y10T428/2982

  Particulate matter [e.g., sphere, flake, etc.] · CPC title

• A43B13/023 Primary

  Soles with several layers of the same material · CPC title

• C08J2367/02

  Polyesters derived from dicarboxylic acids and dihydroxy compounds; (C08J2367/06 takes precedence) · CPC title