OrthoLite creates aerogel-infused PU foam

The company’s new open-cell PU foam is said to be currently unique on the market.

High performance and comfort footwear solutions producer OrthoLite has unveiled its ‘O-Therm’ thermal insole technology for cold weather footwear protection. This new product is claimed to offer ‘all of the known benefits of open-cell polyurethane (PU) foam while combining the world’s lightest and most insulative cold barrier protection’ to block the cold and maintain footwear temperature regulation.

O-Therm is being marketed as the first and only aerogel-infused open-cell PU foam. According to OrthoLite, the thermal performance of O-Therm aerogel insoles has been tested successfully down to -78°C (-108°F).

“OrthoLite’s aerogel is unlike any other aerogel solution in that it is nano-porous inside of a multi-porous structure, and that creates a supreme thermal barrier which blocks both cold and heat,” states Rob Falken, company vice president of innovation. “In addition, O-Therm’s advanced silica aerogel powder is the lightest man-made material, weighing in at only three times the weight of air.”

The O-Therm aerogel is also said to be exceptionally hydrophobic, thus repelling water and moving moisture away from the foot to provide a drier, more comfortable shoe environment. It reportedly requires no special handling or encapsulation, which OrthoLite says is a world’s first. The product is utilised as a 2 mm base-layer thermal foam that can be combined with a wide range of the company’s top-layer foams to create a custom insole solution tailored to a broad range of footwear categories, including outdoor, casual, work, ski and snowboard, fashion and other cold weather footwear categories.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 44 of the April 2021 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

Other articles from this issue »

---