Disclosed are preforms which incorporate improvements in the region of the neck and upper segment of the body to allow the production of lightweight containers, such as bottles suitable for containing water or other beverages. In accordance with certain embodiments, the improvements include a thinner neck finish area than conventional bottles, where the thinner area is extended into the upper segment of the body portion below the support ring. Reducing the thickness in these areas of the bottle allows for less resin to be used in forming the preform and bottle.

The invention relates to an extrusion process for the production of expandable vinyl aromatic polymer granulate comprising mixing first and second additives with first and second polymer components, respectively, in dedicated mixers.

An article at least comprising two components contacting with each other, in which at least part of a surface of at least one of the two components being plated, is provided, which is excellent in plating adhesion and impact resistance and thus is hard to be damaged on the plated surface and excellent in appearance even when one of the two components is brought into contact with the plated part of the other component, and is preferably suppressed in occurrence of unpleasant sounds such as squeaking noise. At least one of the two components of the article is formed of a thermoplastic resin composition (X) comprising a rubber-reinforced aromatic vinyl resin (A) in at least part of the portion that contacts the plated portion of the other component.

An article at least comprising two components contacting with each other, in which at least part of a surface of at least one of the two components being plated, is provided, which is excellent in plating adhesion and impact resistance and thus is hard to be damaged on the plated surface and excellent in appearance even when one of the two components is brought into contact with the plated part of the other component, and is preferably suppressed in occurrence of unpleasant sounds such as squeaking noise. At least one of the two components of the article is formed of a thermoplastic resin composition (X) comprising a rubber-reinforced aromatic vinyl resin (A) in at least part of the portion that contacts the plated portion of the other component.

A film and method of forming a film provides an unmodified starting layer of a starting material, the starting layer having opposed first and second surfaces and an initial thickness, T.sub.1, and a modified surface layer of thickness T.sub.2 which is less than T.sub.1, formed in at least a portion of the second surface, wherein a portion of the modified surface layer is not supported by unmodified starting material removed from the first surface opposite the modified surface layer.

Structures for forming an optical feature and methods for forming the optical feature are disclosed. In some embodiments, the structure comprises a patterned layer comprising a pattern corresponding to the optical feature; a base layer; and an intermediate layer bonded to the patterned layer and the base layer.

A ribbon liquefier comprising an outer liquefier portion configured to receive thermal energy from a heat transfer component, and a channel at least partially defined by the outer liquefier portion, where the channel has dimensions that are configured to receive the ribbon filament, and where the ribbon liquefier is configured to melt the ribbon filament received in the channel to at least an extrudable state with the received thermal energy to provide a melt flow. The dimensions of the channel are further configured to conform the melt flow from an axially-asymmetric flow to a substantially axially-symmetric flow in an extrusion tip connected to the ribbon liquefier.

A phase difference film composed of a resin containing a copolymer including polymerization units A and B, the phase difference film including a cylindrical phase separation structure that generates a structural birefringence, the phase separation structure including a phase (A) having the polymerization unit A as a main component and a phase (B) having the polymerization unit B as a main component, and the phase difference film satisfying the following condition (1) or (2). Condition (1): D(A)>D(B) and f(B)>0.5, and a direction giving a maximum refractive index among in-plane directions and an orientation direction of a cylinder in the phase separation structure are parallel to each other. Condition (2): D(A)>D(B) and f(A)>0.5, and a direction giving a maximum refractive index among in-plane directions and an orientation direction of a cylinder in the phase separation structure are orthogonal to each other.

An article at least comprising two components contacting with each other, in which at least part of a surface of at least one of the two components being plated, is provided, which is excellent in plating adhesion and impact resistance and thus is hard to be damaged on the plated surface and excellent in appearance even when one of the two components is brought into contact with the plated part of the other component, and is preferably suppressed in occurrence of unpleasant sounds such as squeaking noise. At least one of the two components of the article is formed of a thermoplastic resin composition (X) comprising a rubber-reinforced aromatic vinyl resin (A) in at least part of the portion that contacts the plated portion of the other component.

An article at least comprising two components contacting with each other, in which at least part of a surface of at least one of the two components being plated, is provided, which is excellent in plating adhesion and impact resistance and thus is hard to be damaged on the plated surface and excellent in appearance even when one of the two components is brought into contact with the plated part of the other component, and is preferably suppressed in occurrence of unpleasant sounds such as squeaking noise. At least one of the two components of the article is formed of a thermoplastic resin composition (X) comprising a rubber-reinforced aromatic vinyl resin (A) in at least part of the portion that contacts the plated portion of the other component.