Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. The finished straws may be soil-and marine-biodegradable, as well as home-and industrial-compostable.

A vacuum carrier module includes a substrate having at least one hole and an edge region. There is at least one support on a top surface of the substrate. Further, a gel film is adhered to the edge region of the substrate. The at least one hole fluidly connects a reservoir located above the top surface of the substrate. A method of using a vacuum carrier module includes planarizing a gel film by passing an alignment material through a hole in a substrate to contact a first surface of the gel film, positioning at least one chip on a second surface of the gel film opposite the first surface. The method further includes encasing the at least one chip in a molding material and applying a vacuum to the first surface of the gel film.

A composite part charge having an internal cavity is placed on a tool and covered by a vacuum bag for autoclave curing. A bladder is placed in the cavity to react autoclave pressure on the charge. The bladder is coupled with a flexible fluid reservoir located beneath the vacuum bag. The bladder is pressurized by autoclave pressure applied through the vacuum bag to the flexible fluid reservoir.

The invention relates to various aspects of HF-welding methods and HF welding equipment and to a bag produced with an HF-welding method. In tools used for HF welding, it is proposed that the tool is supplemented by an electrically conductive layer, which among other advantages enables the quality of a welded connection, in particular of especially thin films, to be significantly improved.

The invention relates to various aspects of HF-welding methods and HF welding equipment and to a bag produced with an HF-welding method. In tools used for HF welding, it is proposed that the tool is supplemented by an electrically conductive layer, which among other advantages enables the quality of a welded connection, in particular of especially thin films, to be significantly improved.

A vacuum carrier module includes a substrate having at least one hole and an edge region. There is at least one support on a top surface of the substrate. Further, a gel film is adhered to the edge region of the substrate. The at least one hole fluidly connects a reservoir located above the top surface of the substrate. A method of using a vacuum carrier module includes planarizing a gel film by passing an alignment material through a hole in a substrate to contact a first surface of the gel film, positioning at least one chip on a second surface of the gel film opposite the first surface. The method further includes encasing the at least one chip in a molding material and applying a vacuum to the first surface of the gel film.

A vacuum carrier module includes a substrate having at least one hole and an edge region. There is at least one support on a top surface of the substrate. Further, a gel film is adhered to the edge region of the substrate. The at least one hole fluidly connects a reservoir located above the top surface of the substrate. A method of using a vacuum carrier module includes planarizing a gel film by passing an alignment material through a hole in a substrate to contact a first surface of the gel film, positioning at least one chip on a second surface of the gel film opposite the first surface. The method further includes encasing the at least one chip in a molding material and applying a vacuum to the first surface of the gel film.

The present invention relates to a non-woven fabric comprising one or more fibre layers each comprising a plurality of fibres arranged along a fibre direction, wherein the non-woven fabric comprises a plurality of stitching rows, each stitching row comprising one or more threads arranged along a stitch direction, for maintaining arrangement of the plurality of fibres in the one or more fibre layers relative to each other, wherein at least one thread comprises a binding agent. The present invention further relates to preforms comprising the non-woven fabric according to the present invention and methods for producing the non-woven fabric, preforms and wind turbine blades.

Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. The finished straws may be soil- and marine-biodegradable, as well as home- and industrial-compostable.

A method for fabricating a carbon fiber composite part, for example, a sun shield structural assembly on a satellite. The composite part is fabricated on a carbon fiber/bismaleimide (BMI) composite tool, where a moisture barrier is positioned on the tool prior to carbon fiber part ply layers being positioned on the tool to prevent moisture from the tool from entering the part. In one embodiment, the moisture barrier includes cross-wise strips of aluminum foil. A wrinkle barrier is positioned on the moisture barrier before the carbon fiber part ply layers so that anomalies or wrinkles in the moisture barrier are not transferred to the part layers.