An apparatus and method for joining pipes includes a plate for melting mating surfaces of the pipes to be joined. Additionally, the apparatus utilizes a vacuum in order to push the first and second pipes together in lieu of hand or mechanical pressure which may be inconsistent. Additionally, the vacuum allows the pipes to be joined to settle on each other in order to create a pressure about a periphery of the end of the pipe being joined to the other pipe. The consistent pressure creates a very strong joint between the first and second pipes.

The present invention provides a multi-cup arrangement comprising a polypropylene sheet, wherein the polypropylene sheet comprises at least two cavities, the cavities each protruding from the sheet from a bottom surface of the sheet, wherein the cavities are separated from each other via one or more spacer area(s) on the sheet, wherein the spacer area(s) each comprise one or more groove(s) on the bottom surface of the sheet that are positioned to allow the sheet to be broken along the groove by bending the sheet towards the top surface, wherein the grooves are positioned to divide the sheet into multiple segments, each segment comprising one or more cavities, wherein each of the groove(s) has a maximum depth of ?25% and ?80% with regard to the thickness of the polypropylene sheet. Such multi-cup arrangement may be separated into individual cup segments by moderate manual force, whilst the arrangement does not undesirably bend nor snap under the action of its own weight.

The invention relates to shaped parts produced from popcorn which has previously been hydrophobised with a polymer. This allows very light and flexible shaped parts to be produced.

An apparatus to batch or continuously form solid polymer particles, the apparatus comprising the following components: A) at least one pastillation unit comprising a pastillation head, said unit used to form discrete molten polymer particles from a polymer melt; B) a moving belt to receive and transfer the discrete molten polymer particles from the pastillation head; C) a means to transfer water onto the moving belt, such that the water comes into contact with the discrete molten polymer particles on the moving belt to form the solid polymer particles; and wherein the water of component C is sprayed onto the discrete molten polymer particles, such that the ratio of the rate of water spray to the discharge rate is ?3.0; and wherein the belt residence time is ?50 seconds.

A waterproofing system including a functional layer S1 including 10-80 wt.-% of at least one thermoplastic polymer P1 and 10-80 wt.-% of at least one solid particulate filler F, wherein the surface of the functional layer S1 has an Auto-correlation length of waviness W(Sal) of at least 50 ?m. Further, a method for producing a waterproofing system and to the use of a mechanical surface treatment step to increase the waviness factor, determined as the ratio of the Root mean square roughness of waviness W(Sq) to the square of the Auto-correlation length of waviness W(Sal), of a surface of a functional layer S1.

A polymer composition for producing gel extruded articles is described. The polymer composition contains polyethylene particles combined with a plasticizer and one or more shutdown reducing additives. The shutdown reducing additives decrease the shutdown temperature of polymer articles made from the polymer composition. In one embodiment, the polymer composition is used to form a porous membrane for use of a battery separator.

Provided is a biaxially oriented polypropylene film that has high stiffness, has excellent heat resistance at a high temperature of 150? C., easily maintains a bag shape when being made into a packaging bag, and has less pitch shift during printing or fewer wrinkles in a sealed portion when being heat-sealed. A biaxially oriented polypropylene film, wherein a maximum elongation of the biaxially oriented polypropylene film at 150? ? C. or lower measured by a thermomechanical analyzer (TMA) is not larger than 1.5 mm in a longitudinal direction and not larger than 0.1 mm in a width direction, and a heat shrinkage rate of the biaxially oriented polypropylene film at 150? C. is not higher than 10% in the longitudinal direction and not higher than 30% in the width direction.

A mouth guard senses impact forces and determines if the forces exceed an impact threshold. If so, the mouth guard notifies the user of the risk for injury by haptic feedback, vibratory feedback, and/or audible feedback. The mouth guard system may also remotely communicate the status of risk and the potential injury. The mouth guard uses a local memory device to store impact thresholds based on personal biometric information obtained from the user and compares the sensed forces relative to those threshold values. The mouth guard and its electrical components on the printed circuit board are custom manufactured for the user such that the mouth guard provides a comfortable and reliable fit, while ensuring exceptional performance.

A sheet of polymeric material is made using an extruding process and articles are formed from the sheet of polymeric material. The sheet of polymeric material and the articles comprise one or more polypropylene resins. In some embodiments, the sheet of polymeric material and the articles formed form the sheet of polymeric material are transparent.

Disclosed is an injection stretch blow molded (ISBM) container containing a surface having a static coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.15 to 0.21, a dynamic COF of 0.06 to 0.1, wherein the surface retains a water contact angle of 76? or higher for up to three minutes after wetting of the surface with a water drop of 14 to 16 mm diameter and the container is made with a polymeric composition containing a high density polyethylene (HDPE) having a dispersity (Mw/Mn) of 9 or higher as measured by GPC; a MI2 of 1 g/10 min or higher as measured by ASTM D-1238; 190? C./2.16 kg, as measured by ASTM D-1238; and an environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) at 100% Igepal of >150 hours as measured by ASTM D-1693, B.