PELLETHANE Elastomers a Natural Fit for Olympic Shoe
Sledding down a hill at harrowing speeds is what it took for skeleton racer Tristan Gale to win the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Everything counted, from skill and daring, to high-tech clothing – right down to the shoes.
Standing behind those shoes is a team of experts from Dow, Nike, and Kanebo Ltd., who helped create a winning "skeleton" racing shoe with PELLETHANE™ thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomers from Dow.
Best Foot Forward
Shoes are critical to skeleton racers. Athletes start the race by pushing their sled in a 50-meter sprint, wearing spiked shoes that grip the ice. Then, they jump onto the sled face-down and head-first, and embark on a controlled slide at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour (120 km per hour). Racers use their shoulders, legs and feet to help steer down the track, but it's a wild ride from beginning to end.
Pellethane Performs
Tristan Gale's shoe was a "feat" of engineering and manufacturing know-how. PELLETHANE elastomers were spun bonded in a process developed by Kanebo, then embossed into a flat sheet. The result is a strong but lightweight fabric that stretches and is comfortable, flexible and breathes well.
"Pellethane elastomers provide such a natural fit, the shoes feel like an extension of your own feet," said Dave Schiff, Dow development scientist.
Nike and Kanebo – A Step Ahead
Creating Gale's skeleton shoe built upon an already successful business relationship between Nike and Kanebo.
"Often, in our quest for performance properties, we have to sacrifice aesthetics, because we haven't been able to get both qualities in a shoe," said Tobie Hatfield, senior engineer for Advanced Products, Nike, Inc. "With PELLETHANE, we get all the function and it looks great, too."
Kanebo Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan, manufactured Espansione™ TPU non-woven fabric for Nike, who produced the finished shoe. Espansione TPU non-woven is randomly cross-laid, continuous fine filaments, which are 100 percent polyurethane fiber. With well over 100 years in the textile business, Kanebo has a great deal of experience working with specialty materials like Dow's TPU. "Pellethane is easy to process and its performance properties gave the application some unique benefits," commented Tetsuo Kimura, associate general manager of Kanebo's Technofiber Group.
Dashing Ahead
Even if skeleton racing isn't in your future plans, you may benefit from this high-tech shoe worn by Gale. "Often, innovations made in specialty athletic footwear lead to the next generation or two of consumer athletic shoes," said Hatfield.
Living. Improved daily. – With high-tech materials that provide comfort and performance in athletics.
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