Provided is a shoe sole member partially or entirely made of a resin composite in which a plurality of resin foam particles, and one or a plurality of non-foamed elastic bodies having an initial elastic modulus at 23° C. being smaller than that of the resin foam particles are integrated together. Also provided is a shoe including the shoe sole member.

A structural element that includes a central part formed of a fibrous material suspended in a thermoplastic matrix and at least one side part formed of a fibrous material suspended in a thermoplastic matrix and having at least one void therein. The central part and the at least one side part are bonded together while in a heated thermoplastic state to form a single, integral structure characterized by the absence of discontinuity across the bond plane of the structure.

Nanoporous three-dimensional networks of polyurethane particles, e.g., polyurethane aerogels, and methods of preparation are presented herein. Such nanoporous networks may include polyurethane particles made up of linked polyisocyanate and polyol monomers. In some cases, greater than about 95% of the linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers are urethane linkages. To prepare such networks, a mixture including polyisocyanate monomers (e.g., diisocyanates, triisocyanates), polyol monomers (diols, triols), and a solvent is provided. The polyisocyanate and polyol monomers may be aliphatic or aromatic. A polyurethane catalyst is added to the mixture causing formation of linkages between the polyisocyanate monomers and the polyol monomers. Phase separation of particles from the reaction medium can be controlled to enable formation of polyurethane networks with desirable nanomorphologies, specific surface area, and mechanical properties. Various properties of such networks of polyurethane particles (e.g., strength, stiffness, flexibility, thermal conductivity) may be tailored depending on which monomers are provided in the reaction.

Provided herein are a porous film, a separator including the same, an electrochemical device including the separator, and a method of preparing the porous film. The porous film includes first cellulose nanofibers which is impregnated with a carbonate-based solvent-containing electrolyte solution and has a reaction heat of 150 J/g or less at a temperature ranging from about 30° C. to about 300° C., as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

A cordierite-based sintered body according to the present invention contains cordierite as a main component and silicon nitride or silicon carbide. The cordierite-based sintered body preferably has a thermal expansion coefficient less than 2.4 ppm/° C. at 40° C. to 400° C., an open porosity of 0.5% or less, and an average grain size of 1 μm or less.

The present invention provides compositions and methods related to aerogel materials, including polyimide-based aerogels. In particular, aerogel materials optimized to have certain physical and chemical properties such as flexural and compressive strength are provided. In some embodiments, the aerogel materials can be at least partially carbonized.

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.

Light weight composites with high flexural strength comprise epoxy foam sandwiched between two layers of facing material have high strength and low weight and can be used to replace steel structures. The facing layer may be fibrous material especially glass or carbon fibres, the facing material is preferably embedded into the epoxy matrix. Alternatively they may be matching box structures or concentric metal tubes. The sandwich structures may be prepared by laying up the fibre; coating and/or impregnating the layer with epoxy resin, laying a layer of heat activatable foamable epoxy material, providing a further layer of the fibrous material optionally coated and/or impregnated with epoxy resin on the foamable material and heating to foam and cure the epoxy materials. Alternatively they may be formed by extrusion of the foamable material between the surface layers.

The present invention provides compositions and methods related to aerogel materials, including polyimide-based aerogels. In particular, aerogel materials optimized to have certain physical and chemical properties such as flexural and compressive strength are provided. In some embodiments, the aerogel materials can be at least partially carbonized.

A resin foam composition comprises, at least, a resin emulsion and cellulose nanofibers.