Method of foaming a milled precursor
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsBryan N. Farris, David Turner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods of making a foamed article include: (a) milling a block or sheet of thermoplastic polymer to form a precursor; (b) crosslinking the thermoplastic polymer; (c) heating the precursor to a first temperature to soften the thermoplastic polymer; (d) infusing the thermoplastic polymer with at least one inert gas at a first pressure that is sufficient to cause the at least one inert gas to permeate into the softened thermoplastic polymer; and (e) while the thermoplastic polymer is softened, reducing the pressure to a second pressure below the first pressure to at least partially foam the precursor into a foamed article, wherein the foamed article is substantially the same shape as the precursor.
Claims18
A method of making a foamed article, comprising:
- a) milling, with a computerized numeric control (CNC) machine, a block or sheet of thermoplastic polymer to form a precursor;
- b) crosslinking the thermoplastic polymer;
- c) heating the precursor to a first temperature to soften the thermoplastic polymer;
- d) infusing the thermoplastic polymer with at least one inert gas at a first pressure that is sufficient to cause the at least one inert gas to permeate into the softened thermoplastic polymer;
- and
- e) at a time when the thermoplastic polymer is heated to a temperature at which the thermoplastic polymer is softened, reducing pressure to a second pressure below the first pressure to at least partially foam the precursor into a foamed article,
- wherein the foamed article is substantially a same shape as the precursor.
A method of making a foamed article, comprising:
- a) milling, with a computerized numeric control (CNC) machine, a block of a first thermoplastic polymer to form a precursor;
- b) crosslinking the first thermoplastic polymer;
- c) heating the precursor to a first temperature to soften the precursor;
- d) infusing the precursor with a first inert gas under a first pressure;
- e) cooling the precursor to a second temperature below the first temperature;
- f) reducing pressure to a second pressure lower than the first pressure;
- and
- g) heating the precursor to a third temperature at a third pressure to at least partially foam the precursor and form a foamed article.
A method of making a foamed article selected from the group consisting of:
- a footwear midsole, a part of a footwear midsole, a footwear upper, a footwear collar, a footwear tongue, and a footwear insole, comprising:
- a) milling with a computerized numeric control (CNC) machine, a block of a first thermoplastic polymer to form a precursor in a shape selected from the group consisting of:
- a footwear midsole, a part of a footwear midsole, a footwear upper, a footwear collar, a footwear tongue, and a footwear insole;
- b) crosslinking the first thermoplastic polymer;
- c) heating the precursor to a first temperature to soften the precursor;
- d) infusing the precursor with a first inert gas under a first pressure;
- e) cooling the precursor to a second temperature below the first temperature;
- f) reducing pressure to a second pressure lower than the first pressure;
- g) heating the precursor to a third temperature at a third pressure;
- and
- h) decreasing pressure to a fourth pressure lower than the third pressure to induce foaming and form the foamed article, wherein the foamed article is a member selected from the group consisting of:
- a footwear midsole, a part of a footwear midsole, a footwear upper, a footwear collar, a footwear tongue, and a footwear insole, and wherein a volume of the precursor is at least 20% and up to 80% of a volume of the foamed article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.