First Three Dimensional Help Adidas To Use 3D Printing To Improve The New Shoe Springblades Manufacturing Process.

In recent months, we have heard more and more about 3D printing shoes and

News.

Although these projects are really entering daily life.

Sales, but we have seen some notable examples of 3D printing design.

As for shoes, because it often suffers from various impact and wear in the use, and people also have high requirements for its comfort, therefore, it is likely that it will take some time to fully print 3D shoes on the shelf.

Even so, the application of 3D printing technology in the field of shoe production is more and more extensive. Like many other industries, 3D printing has proved to play a great role in product prototyping and design development.

The German sportswear giant Adidas is also incorporating 3D printing technology into its footwear design process.

The company was founded in 1920.

At present, although its business area has been extended to all kinds of sports equipment and clothing, shoes are still the most important part of Adidas brand.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the company is working with China's 3D printing company, Hangzhou, in three dimensional cooperation to test the production of new footwear mold.

In short, this proved to be a very successful attempt. The first three dimensional team's 3D printing technology proved to be very helpful for Adidas to design its latest Springblade series running shoes.

"Springblades" running shoes have become "blades" in China. The biggest feature is the 16 blade designs at the bottom of shoes, which can maximize your energy output, no matter what surface you are running.

Obviously, this unconventional design is the place where 3D printing can show its talents.

First of all, three dimensional explanation says that the main purpose of ADI's 3D printing is to limit the limitations of traditional injection molding technology.

It is obvious that traditional production technology is difficult and inefficient in realizing complex plastic structures (such as Springblade): the cooling rate of these molds is low, and a lot of materials will be wasted in the whole production process.

In order to solve these problems, Adidas and the first three dimensional joint development of a complex water cooling system to increase the cooling rate, and the first three dimensional metal powder sintering process to mold, not only can reduce waste, but also widens the design space.

Using 3D to print plastic parts produced by moulds

Although this cooperation project is still in progress, there is still a lot of work to be done, but the first three dimensional 3D printing has already seen bright application prospects in the future footwear industry.

The company uses the EOSM2803D printer, which is based on SLM metal powder sintering technology. It can produce 60 * 80 * 40 mm steel MS1 mold in about 48 hours.

In the first month of testing, the application of 3D printing technology has shown many results.

First of all, the cooling process has become more efficient, and the production time of single shoes has decreased from 22.4 seconds to 18.1 seconds.

That is to say, the production time has been reduced by nearly 20%. This is undoubtedly a huge economic benefit for ADI millions of shoes output.

In addition, the design and manufacturing process of the mould has been improved, and the waste has been reduced.

Designers can now produce more accurate prototypes and 3D printing molds, with thinner walls and longer life.

Even with hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes produced, these new molds are still in good condition.

The rate of production waste has dropped from 5% to 1%.