Customer Information: A rubber shoe materials company in Zhejiang
Product Used: Hongyun White Latex Reclaimed Rubber
Products Produced: White rubber sports shoe soles
Case Background: This Zhejiang rubber shoe materials company mainly produces various rubber soles, which are widely used in athletic shoes, casual shoes, and other footwear. As competition in the footwear market intensifies, downstream customers are demanding higher standards for sole pricing, appearance quality, and wearing performance. The company mainly uses natural rubber with fillers to produce white rubber sports soles, but raw material costs remain high.
Challenges: White sports soles require strict control over raw material color, impurities, and color matching. Simply increasing fillers to reduce costs affects the sole’s tensile strength, wear resistance, and appearance. The company sought a rubber material that can partially replace natural rubber while maintaining elasticity and processability. They decided to moderately use white latex reclaimed rubber to replace part of the natural rubber, aiming to adjust the compounded rubber system to reduce natural rubber usage while maintaining the appearance and performance of the white soles.
Why They Chose It: Hongyun high-strength white latex reclaimed rubber is made from high-quality latex industrial waste and scrap latex products, with a portion of natural rubber E6LYY710 added during production. It undergoes crushing, desulfurizing, sterilization, drying, and filtering. It has high hydrocarbon content, high strength, low density, good elasticity, easy coloring, low odor, high elongation at break, simple open-mill processing, and can save labor and energy costs. It can be blended with natural rubber to produce white rubber sports shoe soles.
Compared to simply increasing fillers for cost reduction, reasonably using white latex reclaimed rubber in sports soles lowers raw material costs while retaining some elasticity and flexibility. Its color makes it easier to match subsequent coloring for white soles, reducing the impact of dark impurities on the final product’s appearance.
Adjustment Process: The company did not go straight for a high replacement ratio but gradually adjusted the amount of reclaimed latex based on the existing formula, observing changes in sole color uniformity, hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, and wear resistance. For sports sole requirements, natural rubber, SBR, and reclaimed latex were used in suitable ratios, and the reinforcement system was adjusted to improve wear resistance and tear strength.
Results: After multiple trials and formula optimization, the company found a suitable mixture with white latex reclaimed rubber compatible with their equipment. The blended rubber met mixing, molding, and vulcanization requirements for white sports soles. The final products achieved the expected uniform color, elasticity, and dimensional stability. The company verified the formula with small-batch trials before gradually applying it to full production, reducing quality risks from large formula changes. Specific cost savings depend on actual purchase prices, formula usage, and production losses.
Case Summary: Proper use of white latex reclaimed rubber in white sports sole production can effectively reduce raw material costs while maintaining sole appearance and elasticity. It can also improve mixing, open-mill processing, and vulcanization processes, reducing production energy consumption. By choosing the right reclaimed latex according to required hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, wear resistance, and color matching, and appropriately adjusting the rubber formula and process conditions, manufacturers can meet more downstream customers’ demands for sole price and performance.
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