Footwear water resistance tester

Satra have introduced the Dynamic Footwear Water Resistance tester. Consequently, it has become a key method of testing whole shoes in laboratories. It comprises of a pneumatically-driven foot to which the test shoe is fitted and then lowered into a tank with the water at a pre-set level above the shoe's featherline. Water penetration is checked at regular levels and the number of cycles (flexes) completed for leakage to occur is recorded. Satra can now also measure the thermal and water vapour resistance properties of footwear materials. A crucial factor of footwear comfort revolves around the heat and moisture transmission properties of component materials and the test and research centre has designed and built a 'sweating guarded hotplate' test to asses this aspect. Satra's new machine measures the thermal resistance of a sheet material and can be used under several situations. These include different environmental conditions, temperatures and relative humidities for measuring heat and mass transfer processes that occur next to the skin. The equipment imitates, in a very simple way, the heating and sweating mechanisms at the surface of the skin with water, a measuring unit, thermal guard ring with heaters and temperature sensors. Also new is Satra's Q Software. Q is a new software development system designed to help create optimum footwear production in the factory by helping to predict the target output for all operators and machines. This is followed by a computer simulation of production that allows the work to be regulated, so avoiding bottlenecks.