Disclosed herein are photo-stable optical stacks including a transparent conductive film formed by silver nanostructures or silver mesh. In particular, one or more light stabilizers (such as transition metal salts) are incorporated into one or more constituent layers of the optical stack.

A tape-shaped product and a belt for a ball chain are provided. A tape-shaped product of synthetic resin includes a tape of a thermoplastic resin, and a preliminarily stretched fibrous member of a thermoplastic resin contained therein along longitudinally parallel edges or in proximity thereto of the tape. A belt for a ball chain, includes a tape-shaped product of synthetic resin formed by injection molding, together with a fibrous member as an insert of a resin of the same kind as that of the fibrous member so that the fibrous member is disposed along the longitudinal edges or in proximity thereto, ball-insetting holes are disposed at equal intervals, and ball-retaining projections are disposed around the holes.

There is provided a method of making a hollow fiber. The method includes mixing, in a first solvent, a plurality of nanostructures, one or more first polymers, and a fugitive polymer which is dissociable from the nanostructures and the one or more first polymers, to form an inner-volume portion mixture. The method further includes mixing, in a second solvent, one or more second polymers to form an outer-volume portion mixture, and spinning the inner-volume portion mixture and the outer-volume portion mixture to form a precursor fiber. The method further includes heating the precursor fiber to oxidize the precursor fiber and to change a molecular-bond structure of the precursor fiber, and during heating, extracting the fugitive polymer from the inner-volume portion mixture. The method further includes obtaining the hollow fiber with the inner-volume portion having the nanostructures and the first polymers, and with the outer-volume portion having the second polymers.

This specification discloses an article of manufacture. The article of manufacture has at least one structural blank and at least one guide. The structural blank has a plurality of oriented fiber plies in a thermoplastic matrix. The guide has a plurality of random dispersed fibers in a thermoplastic matrix. The guide is affixed to the structural blank by injection molding and over molding the guide onto the structural blank. The article of manufacture can take a number of forms for use in industries such as aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, trains or watercraft.

A high-quality artificial leather is described, having a suede appearance and colors within the grey-black range, the light fastness of the colors according to the method SAE J 1885 225.6 KJ/m.sup.2 being higher than or equal to 4; the lightfastness of the colors according to the method SAE J 1885 488.8 KJ/m.sup.2 being not lower than 3; said artificial leather having a tassel on the surface of the leather itself. The average length of the tassel is between 200 and 500 microns. The soft segments consist of at least one polycarbonate diol selected from polyalkylene carbonate diols and at least one polyester diol; the hard segments consist of urethane groups deriving from the reaction between free isocyanate groups and water; and the total content of carbon black is between 0.025 and 6% by weight.

Devices, systems and techniques are described for producing and implementing articles and materials having nanoscale and microscale structures that exhibit superhydrophobic, superoleophobic or omniphobic surface properties and other enhanced properties. In one aspect, a surface nanostructure can be formed by adding a silicon-containing buffer layer such as silicon, silicon oxide or silicon nitride layer, followed by metal film deposition and heating to convert the metal film into balled-up, discrete islands to form an etch mask. The buffer layer can be etched using the etch mask to create an array of pillar structures underneath the etch mask, in which the pillar structures have a shape that includes cylinders, negatively tapered rods, or cones and are vertically aligned. In another aspect, a method of fabricating microscale or nanoscale polymer or metal structures on a substrate is made by photolithography and/or nano imprinting lithography.

The following configuration is adopted for the purpose of solving reduction in strength and rigidity at a weldline which is a problem of an injection molding body, and enabling free design such as thin wall molding or complex shape molding of the injection molding body. That is, there is provided an integrally molded body in which a substrate for reinforcement (a) having a discontinuous fiber (a1) and a resin (a2) and an injection molding body (b) having a discontinuous fiber (b1) and a resin (b2) are integrated, the substrate for reinforcement (a) covering a part or all of a weldline of the injection molding body (b) to be integrated with the injection molding body (b), the ratio of thickness Ta of the substrate for reinforcement (a) to thickness T of a weldline part of the integrally molded body satisfying relational expression: in a case of EaEbw,

Ta/T((Ebw(Ea.Math.Ebw))/(EbwEa)) in a case of Ea=Ebw,

Ta/T0.5 wherein, Ta: Thickness of substrate for reinforcement (a), T: Thickness of weldline part of integrally molded body, Ea: Flexural modulus of substrate for reinforcement (a) in width direction of weldline, and Ebw: Flexural modulus of weldline of injection molding body (b) in width direction of weldline.

A ply for fabricating composite material which includes a first tow including a plurality of fibers spread in a direction along a width of a cross section of the ply. A first sheet of enhancement performance material extends within the plurality of fibers and between a top and a bottom of the cross section of the ply.

This specification discloses an article of manufacture. The article of manufacture has at least one structural blank and at least one guide. The structural blank has a plurality of oriented fiber plies in a thermoplastic matrix. The guide has a plurality of random dispersed fibers in a thermoplastic matrix. The guide is affixed to the structural blank by injection molding and over molding the guide onto the structural blank. The article of manufacture can take a number of forms for use in industries such as aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, trains or watercraft.

A ply for fabricating composite material includes a first tow of a plurality of fibers, which are spread in a direction along a width of a cross section of the ply, wherein a first sheet of enhanced performance material overlies the first tow. A second tow of a plurality of fibers, which are spread in the direction along the width of the cross section of the ply, overlies the first sheet of the enhanced performance material. Another tow of a plurality of fibers, which are spread in the direction along the width of the cross section of the ply, are positioned against and laterally extend from the first tow, the second tow and the first sheet of enhanced performance material.