Methods for manufacturing cushioning elements for sports apparel are described. A method is provided for manufacturing a cushioning element for sports apparel from randomly arranged particles of an expanded material. The method includes positioning a functional element within a mold and loading the mold with the particles of the expanded material, wherein the loading occurs through at least two openings within the mold and/or wherein the loading occurs between different movable parts of the mold.

Methods of manufacturing wall structures having high racking strength are described in this specification. The methods include spray applying a foam-forming composition into a cavity of a wall structure, wherein the wall structure is disposed in a climate-controlled spray application station and allowing the foam-forming material to expand within at least a portion of the cavity to form a foam layer deposited in the cavity. In the methods, the foam layer is formed in-situ during the manufacturing method, and the density of the foam layer is selected and the relative humidity and dew point of the air in the climate-controlled spray application station throughout the spray applying is selected so that the wall structure has a racking strength of at least 500 pounds per linear foot.

The present invention provides an inkjet-type 3D printing method using a urea reaction capable of quickly printing a large-area 3D structure regardless of a size of a printed matter by printing a 3D structure on a surface of a subject ink applied in units of layers through the urea reaction between a hardener ink and the subject ink applied by an inkjet method while omitting a separate supporter structure for supporting an overhang portion of the 3D structure to be printed during 3D printing by using, as the subject ink, a phase change ink composition ink that exists in a liquid phase at room temperature but is frozen and gelled at a certain temperature or lower.

An orthosis is fitted to a body joint, in a preferred embodiment the equine fetlock, by locating the center of rotation (COR) of the joint; measuring the bones comprising the joint at points located with respect to the COR; selecting the appropriate orthosis from a selection of models thereof; and custom-fitting the orthosis to the individual by heating it to soften a layer of thermoformable foam on the interior of the orthosis, and clamping the orthosis in place over the body joint. A kit of tools for performing the measurements is disclosed, as are a method for location of the COR of the body joint by palpation and a preferred heater.

A composite sheet material includes a cover sheet, a substrate and an adhesion promoting layer. The cover sheet has a cover sheet material. The substrate has a substrate material. The adhesion promoting layer is disposed between the cover sheet and the substrate. A first side of the adhesion promoting layer disposed towards the cover sheet has an affinity to bond with the cover sheet material. A second side of the adhesion promoting layer disposed towards the substrate has an affinity to bond with the substrate material.

The invention relates to a bicycle saddle having a saddle shell, on the underside of which a frame is arranged. A saddle pad is arranged on the upper side of the saddle shell. According to the invention, the saddle pad has two padding elements for improved comfort, wherein in a preferred embodiment the inner padding element is made of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane).

A multilayer film including: an A layer composed of a thermoplastic resin; and a B layer disposed on at least one of the surfaces of the A layer, the B layer being composed of a material Y that contains as a main component a polymer having a glass transition temperature of 50 to 40 C., and a thickness Ta of the A layer, a thickness Tb of the B layer, a planar orientation coefficient P of the A layer, a loss modulus Ea of the A layer, a loss modulus Eb of the B layer, a storage modulus Ea of the A layer, and a storage modulus Eb of the B layer satisfying following formulae (1) to (4):
2.510.sup.3<Tb/Ta<1.010.sup.1(1)
P>1.010.sup.3(2)
Eb>Ea+0.01 GPa(3)
Eb<Ea1 GPa.(4)

Wind Turbine Blade (12) Leading Edge (24, 30, 88) Protection Method In a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of applying an erosion shield (22) to a leading edge region (30) of a wind turbine blade (12). The method comprises providing a wind turbine blade (12) comprising a blade shell (26) having an aerodynamic profile and defining a leading edge region (30); providing an erosion shield (22) made of a polymer material, the erosion shield (22) having an inner surface (36) to be bonded to the leading edge region (30) of the blade shell (26), and an outer surface (38, 84, 98) to be exposed in use; activating (44) the inner surface (36) of the erosion shield (22), and cleaning (42) the inner surface (36) of the erosion shield (22) using a solvent. The method further comprises applying a layer of wet adhesive (66, 68, 72A) to the inner surface (36) of the erosion shield (22); applying a layer of wet adhesive (66, 68, 72A) to the leading edge region (30) of the blade shell (26); arranging the erosion shield (22) against the leading edge region (30) of the blade shell (26) such that wet-to-wet adhesive (66, 68, 72A, 72, 96) contact is established between the inner surface (36) of the erosion shield (22) and the blade shell (26), and curing the adhesive (66, 68, 72A, 72, 96) to bond the erosion shield (22) to the leading edge region (30) of the blade shell (26).

The invention relates to a sandwich component composed of at least two building material plates which are arranged essentially parallel to one another at a distance from one another and have a polyurethane foam core between the spaced building material plates, wherein the ratio of the greatest measured compressive modulus of the polyurethane foam core in a direction oriented parallel to the building material plates to the compressive modulus of the polyurethane foam core in a direction oriented perpendicular to the building material plates is less than 1.7. To produce the sandwich components, a mixture of (a) at least one polyisocyanate component, (b) at least one component which comprises at least one polyfunctional compound which is reactive toward isocyanates and (c) at least one blowing agent is introduced by the high-pressure injection method into a hollow space between spaced building material plates. The process makes it possible to produce sandwich components whose foam core has reduced anisotropy combined with good insulation values.

A tire comprising a circumferential tread having an outer tread surface and an inner innerliner surface; at least two spaced-apart beads; sidewall portions extending between the tread and the beads; and a belt-like foam noise damper having first and second terminal ends, wherein the noise damper lines said innerliner surface; wherein the noise damper is adhesively secured to the innerliner surface, and wherein the terminal ends of the noise damper are cut at an angle of less than 90 degrees, overlap each other, and the overlapped second terminal end of the foam is joined to the first terminal end by the adhesive present underneath the second terminal end.