Falls present a massive health risk for older adults. Half of those over 80 will fall at least once a year with 1 in 5 suffering a serious injury. Footwear outsole material that provides good grip on ice and snow can potentially prevent many of these injuries. Our team has developed our own promising patent-pending composite outsole materials with a unique structure that consist of soft rubber compound with hard microscopic fibers protruding out from the surface. In this study, we attempt to optimize the ice friction performance of our composite for extended use. We investigate the effect of manufacturing and testing parameters using the Taguchi method for robust design. Our results on optimization of process parameters demonstrate that fiber content at 8% volume fraction with mold temperature sets at 120 °C lead to maximum ice friction properties before and after simulated wear. The optimized composite design showed a higher coefficient of friction (COF) on ice than any on the market now, which highlights the capability of the material to provide improved traction on icy surfaces and prevent fall-related injuries.
展开▼
机译：具有提高的抗水和其他液体的抵抗性的复合材料抗水的挠性，屏蔽，具有提高的抗水和其他液体的抵抗性的复合材料的抗水的抗弯曲性，制造材料的方法comp u00f3具有改善的抗水和其他水电性能的站点bal u ecstico flex u00ecvel，以及提高抗水和其他水电性能的方法，是复合材料bal u ecstico的抗水挠性 u00ecvel
