Sep 9, 2016 | By Tess
If you’ve noticed that the name Xuberance has been popping up a lot lately, you’re right, as the Chinese 3D printing design studio has been quite busy realizing a number of awesome 3D printing design projects. Earlier this month, for instance, the studio partnered with students from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts to create a series of stunning 3D printed home decorations, and just a couple days ago, it announced it would soon be opening Shanghai’s very first 3D printing-themed café. Now, to continue their streak of good work, Xuberance has made a pair of custom-designed high heeled shoes for Chinese singer Wo Mochou (aka Momo Wu).
Wo Mochou, who became popular as a singer after being runner-up of The Voice of China season 1, was gifted with the custom designed shoes this past summer at the GOPAS MissMo lipstick debut conference and art fair. The shoes are not just any 3D printed footwear, however, as they also mark China’s first shoes made from EOS’ PEBA soft material. The shoes, which look like something Iceman would make, were designed by Xuberance’s chief designer Christor Koukis and Korean student Hyeonjeong Yang, and were additively manufactured by local 3D printing company Sunshine3DP.
The final design of the PEBA high heeled shoes, which took over a year to design and prototype, happily corresponded with Momo Wu’s artistic expansion, so the design studio decided to create the pair custom made for her feet, with size, and instep all taken into account.
PEBA (or PrimePart® ST), the material the shoes are made of, is also worth mentioning, as the shoes mark the first time a Chinese EOS 3D printer used the soft and flexible material. The material, which boasts a high elasticity and strength, good chemical resistance, and high detail resolution, was the ideal material to make the shoes, as it offered a higher degree of comfort over more standard synthetic polymer materials. According to a source, the finished shoes even had a surface texture comparable to that of matte suede.
Of course, while the flexible and soft PEBA material was optimal for the top part of the shoe, Xuberance needed a slightly stiffer material for the sole and heel, for which it did ultimately use a nylon powder. Both the top and bottom of the shoe were laser sintered by Sunshine3DP, which was then able to combine the two parts seamlessly. Certain difficulties did arise in the 3D printing process for the shoes, which stemmed from the particular settings necessary for printing with PEBA.
For instance, the 3D printing company struggled to find the right sintering temperature for the material, which is lower than the temperature needed for PA2200, a white polyamide material. If the temperature is too high it will result in oxidation of the material, while a too low temperature will result in distorted parts. Additionally, placement requirements also had to be precise so that the print would not be poor in quality. Finally, the cooling temperature necessary for PEBA was found to be much lower than for other printing materials, both inside and outside the print chamber, and too quick of a removal of the printed product could result in flaws in the part’s precision. It is no wonder the shoes took a year to perfect!
In the end, the final version of the 3D printed shoes were presented to Momo Wu, whose fearless and self-assured attitude are reflected in the shoes’ striking design. According to Xuberance, they hope that Momo Wu will help to bring attention to the potentials of 3D printing fashion, and how the creative possibilities that exist with it.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- Nervous System unveils amazing 2.0 version of 3D printed Kinematics Petals Dress
- 3D printed medical models helping to treat Singapore children with heart defects
- 3D printing used to create 300% longer-lasting 'Chargemander' Pokemon battery case
- Researchers hack a 3D printer with a smartphone
- Altran invests in Divergent, the maker of 'Blade' the 3D printed supercar
- Star Trek Online to offer licensed custom 3D printed models of Star Trek spacecraft
- Groundbreaking 3D printed hearing aid from Earlens uses non-visible light to create natural, rich sound
- 3D Printable gaming terrain Dragonlock returns to Kickstarter, funded in 30 minutes
- GE's $1.4B takeover bids for SLM, Arcam shows 3D printing has 'gone mainstream', says Gartner
- WASP’s 3D printed prostheses could send two Italian athletes to glory
- Hong Kong designers unveil vibrant 3D printed shoe collection made with Stratasys's J50 3D printer
probably very uncomfortable.. hence they dont show someone wearing them.
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
