Cork composites for articles of footwear and methods for making thereof
AssigneePuma SE
InventorPatrick Donovan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a cork composite material is disclosed herein. The method includes providing a plurality of cork particles, adding a binder material to the cork particles to form a mixture of the cork particles and the binder material, transferring the mixture to a mold, applying energy to the mixture, cooling the mixture, and removing the cork composite material from the mold. Further, the energy includes electromagnetic radiation that fuses the cork particles with the binder material. Cooling the mixture solidifies the mixture, thereby forming a cork composite material.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a cork composite material, comprising:
- providing a plurality of cork particles;
- adding a binder material to the plurality of cork particles to form a mixture of the plurality of cork particles and the binder material;
- transferring the mixture to a mold;
- applying energy to the mixture, wherein the energy includes electromagnetic radiation that fuses the plurality of cork particles with the binder material, wherein the energy comprises microwave radiation being supplied at a power between about 6 kW and about 18 kW;
- cooling the mixture, wherein cooling the mixture solidifies the mixture, forming a cork composite material;
- and
- removing the cork composite material from the mold.
A method of fabricating a midsole of an article of footwear containing cork composite material, comprising:
- providing a plurality of cork particles;
- adding a binder material to the plurality of cork particles to form a mixture of the plurality of cork particles and the binder material;
- transferring the mixture to a mold configured with a cavity in the shape of a midsole of an article of footwear;
- applying energy to the mixture, wherein the energy is applied using microwave radiation and fuses the plurality of cork particles with the binder material to form a cork composite material;
- cooling the mixture, wherein cooling the mixture solidifies the cork composite material in the shape of the midsole;
- and
- removing the midsole from the mold.
A method of fabricating a midsole of an article of footwear containing cork composite material, comprising:
- providing a mixture having cork particles and a binder material;
- transferring the mixture to a mold;
- and
- applying energy to the mixture, wherein the energy applied to the mixture includes electromagnetic waves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.