Home › Shoe Material Injection Molding
Footwear soles are a specialized corner of injection molding: PVC, PU and TPR soles are molded on dedicated machines with rotary tables and multi-station tooling, not on standard horizontal presses.
A shoe sole mold is a pair of matching dies clamped around a last, cycling in a carousel. Rotary multi-station machines let operators load and unload while other stations mold — the throughput of shoe production depends on this overlap, which standard horizontal machines do not provide.
| Material | Typical use | Machine note |
|---|---|---|
| PVC | Budget soles, boots | Plasticizer handling; dedicated barrel |
| TPR | Sport and casual soles | Similar to PVC with different flow |
| PU | Midsoles, safety footwear | Chemical mixing and dosing, not standard injection |
| CR/EVA foamed | Comfort midsoles | Expansion control; dedicated process |
Sole molds are pairs of dies around a last, cycled on a carousel so operators load and unload while other stations mold — throughput depends on that overlap.
PVC and TPR for injected soles, PU for midsoles and safety footwear, and foamed EVA/CR for comfort midsoles — each with a dedicated machine process.
No. PU is a reactive mixing process with its own dosing equipment; a PVC/TPR injection machine cannot be converted to PU production.