METHODS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES UTILIZING FOAM PARTICLES

Organization Name

NIKE, Inc.

Inventor(s)

Jay Constantinou of Beaverton OR US

Harleigh Doremus of Portland OR US

Luis Folgar of Beaverton OR US

Brandon Kvamme of Beaverton OR US

Denis Schiller of Vancouver WA US

Krissy Yetman of Portland OR US

METHODS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES UTILIZING FOAM PARTICLES

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 20240253300 titled 'METHODS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES UTILIZING FOAM PARTICLES

Original Abstract Submitted

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 additive manufacturing methods comprise increasing the temperature of a plurality of foam particles with actinic radiation under conditions effective to fuse a portion of the plurality of foam particles comprising one or more thermoplastic elastomers. increasing the temperature of the foam particles can be carried out for one or multiple iterations. the disclosed methods can be used to manufacturer articles with sub-regions that exhibit differing degrees of fusion between the foam particles, 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.