A sheet compound (1) is disclosed, comprising a first group of conglomerates (3) of fiber segments (5) and a matrix (6) of polymeric material, the conglomerates (3) of the first group having a random orientation, and at least one second group of conglomerates (4) of fiber segments (5) and a matrix (6) of polymeric material, the conglomerates (4) of the second group having a prevailing orientation of a direction of maximum tensile strength (FR) thereof along a respective predetermined direction (FB) in said geometric plane (P), said at least one second group of conglomerates (4) being distinguishable from the first group of conglomerates (3) by at least one characteristic other than orientation. A process and an installation for making such a material, as well as a molded object made from such a material are also disclosed.

There is provided a method of making a hollow fiber having improved resistance to microfracture formation at a fiber-matrix interface. 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, spinning the inner-volume portion mixture and the outer-volume portion mixture and extracting the fugitive polymer from the inner-volume portion mixture to form a precursor fiber, heating the precursor fiber to oxidize the precursor fiber and to change a molecular-bond structure of the precursor fiber, and obtaining a hollow fiber with the inner-volume portion having the nanostructures and the first polymers, and with the outer-volume portion having the second polymers.

There is provided a method of making a fiber having improved resistance to microfracture formation at a fiber-matrix interface. The method includes mixing a plurality of nanostructures and one or more first polymers in a first solvent to form an inner-volume portion mixture, mixing one or more second polymers in a second solvent to form an outer-volume portion mixture, spinning the inner-volume portion mixture and the outer-volume portion mixture to form a precursor fiber, heating the precursor fiber to oxidize the precursor fiber and to change a molecular-bond structure of the precursor fiber, and obtaining a fiber. The fiber has an inner-volume portion with a first outer diameter, the nanostructures, and with the one or more first polymers, and has an outer-volume portion with a second outer diameter and the one or more second polymers, the outer-volume portion being in contact with and completely encompassing the inner-volume portion.

An electroconductive film for an actuator is formed from a gel composition including carbon nanofibers, an ionic liquid, and a polymer. The carbon nanofibers are produced with an aromatic mesophase pitch by melt spinning.

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 building panel with a surface layer including a wood veneer, a wood fibre based core and a sub-layer between the surface layer and the core. The sub-layer includes wood fibres and a binder. The surface layer has surface portions including material from the sub-layer. The surface portions including material from the sub-layer extend into the wood veneer.

A method and apparatus are provided which enable formation of a thermoplastic article having a high volume loading of a long fiber reinforcement. The method includes providing a first thermoplastic composite material having at least about 40 volume percent of at least one reinforcing fiber; providing at least one mold, the mold(s) each comprising at least one first mold section having an inlet and an outlet and defining a first mold cavity and at least one second mold section having an inlet and an outlet and defining a second mold cavity, wherein the outlet of the first mold section is in communication with the inlet of the second mold section; introducing the first thermoplastic composite material into the first mold cavity; applying heat and pressure to the first thermoplastic composite material in the first mold cavity until the first mold section reaches at least a first process temperature; releasing the pressure on the mold; and reapplying pressure to the mold while cooling, wherein at least a portion of the first thermoplastic composite material flows out of the least one outlet of the first mold section and into the second mold cavity, wherein said cooling solidifies the first thermoplastic composite to form a molded article having the shape of the second mold cavity. Articles formed from such methods and apparatus are also disclosed.

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.

A building panel with a surface layer (1) including a wood veneer, a wood fibre based core (2) and a sub-layer (3) between the surface layer (1) and the core (2). The sub-layer (3) includes wood fibres (4) and a binder (5). The surface layer (1) has surface portions (6) including material from the sub-layer (3). The surface portions (6) including material from the sub-layer (3) extend into the wood veneer.

A stampable sheet includes a resin and carbon fiber sheet including fiber bundles of discontinuous carbon fibers, wherein the carbon fiber sheet includes fiber bundles having a bundle width of 50 m or greater and opened fibers ranging from fiber bundles having a bundle width less than 50 m to fibers obtained by opening to the single-fiber level. When the direction along which the opened fibers have been oriented most is a 0 direction and the range of from the 0 to 90 direction is divided into angular zones, the distribution curve showing the proportion of the number of fiber bundles in each angular zone to that in all angular zones and the distribution curve showing the proportion of the number of opened fibers in each angular zone to that in all angular zones are reverse to each other in terms of gradient of the 0 to 90 direction.