A method for providing folded sheet structures comprising selecting an aspect surface, applying a shaping function to said aspect surface to yield a shaped surface, applying a floating point method to obtain a floated surface, and calculating a corresponding fold pattern on a unfolded sheet. The floating point method can be applied reiteratively to calculate the corresponding fold pattern. Machines for folding multifold structures, laminate structures, and micro- and nano-structures are disclosed.

A fibre-containing sheet comprising a folding pattern and a partly or fully folded sheet product obtained from the fibre-containing sheet is disclosed. The folding pattern of the fibre-containing sheet comprises a series of parallel straight fold lines and a series of zigzag fold lines. Each zigzag fold line has a breadth which is greater than a breadth of a straight fold line. The partly folded sheet product can be shaped into various complex geometrical shapes, including spheres and saddle points, as a result of the folding pattern. A method for producing the fibre-containing sheet as well as use of the fibre-containing sheet is also disclosed.

A honeycomb for curved surface lightweight components includes a plurality of elongate ribbons and connecting regions. The connecting regions are provided, respectively, between opposing ribbons to connect the ribbons together in a portion-wise manner in a firmly bonded relationship in a transverse direction. The connecting regions are arranged at regular spacings along the longitudinal direction of a ribbon. Honeycomb-like cells form cavities between the ribbons. With respect to three successive ribbons, a displacement of the connecting regions between first and second ribbons relative to the connecting regions between second and third ribbons toward a first side of the longitudinal direction is lesser than toward a second side of the longitudinal direction. Consequently, at least a part of the cells in cross-section in the longitudinal direction/transverse direction plane have at least one longer limb corresponding to the greater displacement and at least one shorter limb corresponding to the lesser displacement.

A apparatus for creating corrugated cardboard (20) in particular on the site of a system for automatically forming packaging boxes, said corrugated cardboard having at least one corrugated layer (10) between two flat layers (12, 18). The apparatus includes a joining station (16) for attaching a second flat layer (18) to a corrugated layer (10) provided on a first flat layer (12), means for supplying said corrugated layer (10) with the first flat layer (12) attached thereto to said joining station (16) and means for supplying said second flat layer (18) to said joining station, means for removing a protective layer (28) from the corrugated layer (10) and/or the second flat layer (18), said protective layer (28) protecting an adhesive substance provided on the corrugated layer (10) or the second flat layer (18).

A method and apparatus for forming patterns on sheet material are disclosed. The method comprises a continuous lateral stretch process for producing zero- or near zero-curvature structures. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises pre-gathering the sheet material in the lateral direction to form longitudinal corrugated folds and then feeding the corrugated material through one or more sets of oscillating formers, preferably articulating discs, to impart folding in the lateral direction. Optionally, the sheet material may be fed through one or more sets of patterned rollers.

Apparatus and methods for forming three dimensional structures from a sheet of material of a desired medium are described. Examples described include an apparatus for folding a sheet of material to create a folded structure, the apparatus having a first and second array of creasing elements, and at least one actuator for causing relative movement of the first and second array of creasing elements from a first position to a second position.

According to the present disclosure there is provided a method of forming a first structure (150), comprising the steps of: providing one or more slots (124) in a material, thereby to define a plurality of strips (122) of the material, the slots (124) defining a series of connecting elements (128) connecting adjacent strips (122) of the material, the connecting elements (128) being spaced apart along a first direction (130), forming the material to provide: an array of oppositely oriented channels (152), each channel (152) extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the array itself extending in the first direction, each channel comprising a base, and sides extending from the base; and a first, non-continuous, outer plane; and a second, non-continuous, outer plane, such that the first structure is foldable along each of the series of connecting elements about the first direction to bring the first outer plane of a first strip toward, and optionally into contact with, the first outer plane of a second, adjacent strip.

The present invention discloses a method for preparing a multilayer metal oxide nano-porous thin film gas sensitive material, in which the microsphere aqueous solution is self-assembled on a substrate covered with an insulating layer, to form a compact single-layer array template; the surface of these microspheres are etched by using a plasma etching method to reduce the pitches between the microspheres; the metal oxide thin film is deposited by a physical deposition method; the template is removed by ultrasonic treatment with a solvent to prepare a porous array metal oxide thin film; and annealing is performed in air atmosphere to obtain the metal oxide porous thin film gas sensitive material. The present invention can be used for preparing a regular porous array thin film gas sensitive material; the pore size of the prepared porous thin film material is uniform and controllable; and the combination of these materials is controllable.

The method of the present disclosure is a method for producing a porous polymer film including: irradiating a strip-shaped polymer film with an ion beam while moving the polymer film transversely to the ion beam, so as to form a polymer film that has collided with ions in the beam; and chemically etching the formed polymer film so as to form openings and/or through holes corresponding to tracks left by the colliding ions in the polymer film. The ion beam (11) with which the polymer film is irradiated is obtained by folding a tail of an original beam (51) inwardly toward a center of the original beam by nonlinear focusing. The original beam is composed of ions accelerated in a cyclotron and has a cross-sectional intensity distribution profile in which an intensity is maximum at the center of the original beam and continuously decreases from the center toward the tail of the original beam, and the profile is an intensity distribution profile in a cross section perpendicular to a direction of the original beam.

An apparatus for the fabrication of mechanically stable, planar rectangular or quadratic plates or bent plates from comigated cardboard at an industrial scale with minimum waste and dust. generation.