Patent ID: 11911936
Assignee: NIKE, INC.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 16:
17. A method of molding a footwear component using a single-phase solution, the method comprising:
pressurizing a mold cavity of a footwear component mold above atmospheric pressure to a mold pressure, wherein the mold pressure is at least a pressure to maintain a single-phase solution as a single phase, wherein the single-phase solution is comprised of a polymer composition and a gas;
injecting the single-phase solution into the mold cavity;
maintaining at least the mold pressure in the mold cavity during the injecting of the single-phase solution; and
cooling the polymer composition below a glass transition temperature of the polymer composition to form the footwear component,
wherein the mold comprises a pressure regulator that maintains at least the mold pressure as the single-phase solution is injected into the mold cavity and wherein the mold cavity remains a constant volume,
wherein the polymer composition is comprised of a polymer selected from one of polyurethane and ethylene-vinyl acetate.