formandfunction
Materials
Hi All
I am a product designer working in Australia and I have recently received a job to design an orthopedic flip-flop which we call 'thongs' in Australia.
My knowledge is limited with material science with plastics and rubber but the idea is to injection mold the flip-flop from EVA but certain areas of the product need to be softer e.g. the arch support and the heel area for comfort. My question is could I create a 1 piece injection molded flip-flop base with a dual density property around certain location? How is the tooling made for this type of mold?
I was also considering using a TPE to do an soft-feature between the large toe for more comfort. Could someone suggest to me or direct me to the right place to find if I could create an 'extra soft' material that can be bonded to the area in between the large toe (example, very soft EVA, or rubber or silicon that is then bonded to the strap which could either be PVC or Rubber)
Any help would be much appreciated
thanks all
I am a product designer working in Australia and I have recently received a job to design an orthopedic flip-flop which we call 'thongs' in Australia.
My knowledge is limited with material science with plastics and rubber but the idea is to injection mold the flip-flop from EVA but certain areas of the product need to be softer e.g. the arch support and the heel area for comfort. My question is could I create a 1 piece injection molded flip-flop base with a dual density property around certain location? How is the tooling made for this type of mold?
I was also considering using a TPE to do an soft-feature between the large toe for more comfort. Could someone suggest to me or direct me to the right place to find if I could create an 'extra soft' material that can be bonded to the area in between the large toe (example, very soft EVA, or rubber or silicon that is then bonded to the strap which could either be PVC or Rubber)
Any help would be much appreciated
thanks all