New Balance has turned to design-driven manufacturing for 3D printing custom spike plates, based on an individual runner’s biomechanics and personal inputs, for their elite athletes.
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Using a proprietary process to collect race simulation data from Team New Balance runners, the Sports Research Lab then applies advanced algorithms to translate this information into an optimized design that can be additively manufactured on an EOSINT P 395 system—plastic laser-sintering technology from EOS that allows designers to produce, or “grow,” complex geometries that can’t be created using traditional manufacturing techniques.
The spike plates are “grown” in the EOS system from the custom-blend nylon powder, coupled with tailored laser conditions, and yield maximum engineering properties such as tensile and flex moduli, while minimizing build time.
Filed Under: Rapid prototyping