Presented are manufacturing systems, methods, and devices for forming footwear using scrap or waste plastic materials. A method for manufacturing an article of footwear, such as an athletic shoe, begins with receiving a batch of recycled plastic, which may include thermoplastic elastomers or ethylene-vinyl acetate, and grinding the batch of recycled plastic material. The ground recycled material is processed, for example, by adding a foaming agent that activates at elevated temperatures. The processed recycled material is placed into the internal cavity of a final mold that is shaped like a segment of the footwear, such as a unitary sole structure. To form the footwear segment, the processed recycled material is heated past the threshold activation temperature of the foaming agent such that the foaming agent causes the recycled material to expand and fill the internal cavity of the final mold. The formed footwear segment is then extracted from the mold.

The present invention generally relates to a method of reducing contamination from plastics. The resulting purer plastic can be used in demanding applications.

Physical foaming a footwear component with a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid is provided. The method include temperature conditioning a mold and then engaging the mold with a robot that conveys the mold to a press. At the press a gas counter pressure is applied to a cavity of the mold before injecting a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid into the cavity of the mold. The process continues with releasing the gas counter pressure from the cavity of the mold and then removing the footwear component from the cavity of the mold. The parameters of the method are configured for the formation of the footwear component in an automated manner.

The invention relates to a method in which a polyester melt containing one or more polyesters is produced, the polyester melt being foamed by a blowing agent and a foamed granulate is produced from the foamed polyester melt. The intrinsic viscosity (IV) of the polyester melt is reduced by the blowing agent about at least 0.05 dl/g, measured according to ASTM D4603, and the IV of the foamed granulate is then increased by means of a solid phase polycondensation (SSP).

A heat-shrinkable polyester film made of a polyester-forming resin composition includes a recycled material, and has an exothermic crystallization peak and an endothermic melting peak which are determined via differential scanning calorimetry, and which satisfy relationships of T2−T1≤68° C. and T3−T2≤78° C., where T1 represents an onset point of the exothermic crystallization peak, T2 represents an end point of the exothermic crystallization peak and an onset point of the endothermic melting peak, and T3 represents an end point of the endothermic melting peak. A method for manufacturing the heat-shrinkable polyester film is also disclosed.

The present application overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a system for proper life-cycle management of plastic products and the plastic waste that plastic products produce.

The embodiments of the invention relate to recycled rubber masterbatch which exhibits a sufficient level of green strength and tack. The devulcanization of thermoset rubber is provided by reactive mixing of pulverized rubber, thermoplastic matrix, main-chain backbone antidegradant and green strength enhancer in the presence of a devulcanizing promoter. The embodiments of the invention also provide a thermoplastic dynamically post-vulcanized rubber which comprises at least one devulcanized rubber masterbatch and a polymer, wherein the rubber component is dispersed as a domain in a continuous resin phase and is selectively crosslinked during melt mixing with a molten thermoplastic.

A method for producing low density polyester foam utilizing low I.V. polyester feedstock includes providing a low intrinsic viscosity raw material. The low intrinsic viscosity raw material includes between 25% to 100% of a post consumer polyester and has an intrinsic viscosity of less than 0.8 dl/g. The intrinsic viscosity of the low intrinsic viscosity raw material is increased via a de-condensation reaction configured to support foaming. The intrinsic viscosity of the low intrinsic viscosity raw material is increased to 1.1 dl/g or greater. A starting formulation is created including the low intrinsic viscosity raw material with the increased intrinsic viscosity. The starting formulation is foamed to create the polyester foam. Wherein, the polyester foam produced has a specific gravity of less than 0.65 g/cc.

Tooling and components of an injection-molding system may be used to mold a foam article. The tooling and components may include features that control parameters of the injection-molding and foaming process, such as temperature, pressure, shot size, shot placement, and the like.

Tooling and components of an injection-molding system may be used to mold a foam article. The tooling and components may include features that control parameters of the injection-molding and foaming process, such as temperature, pressure, shot size, shot placement, and the like.