A thermoforming apparatus is provided having a frame, a pair of opposed platens, a toggle shaft, a kinematic linkage, a form air manifold, and a pair of articulating bearing assemblies. The pair of opposed platens is carried by the frame each with a die, one die configured to engage an opposed face of another die across a heated sheet of thermoformable material in sealed relation there between. The toggle shaft is carried by the frame for rotation. The kinematic linkage is coupled between the toggle shaft and one of the dies. The form air manifold and a source of differential pressure is coupled with a die face on one of the dies. The pair of articulating bearing assemblies is carried by the frame and configured to support the at least one toggle shaft for translation towards and away from the another die and platen. A method is also provided.

A cross-corrugated support structure includes a sheet having a first and a second set of corrugations. The first set of corrugations is defined by a series of alternating ridges and grooves that extend the length of the sheet in a first direction. The second set of corrugations is also defined by a series of ridges and grooves that extend the length of the sheet in a second direction that intersects with the first direction. The intersection of the first and second set of corrugations creates cross-corrugations throughout the sheet. To provide compressive and tensile strengths suitable for large-scale construction applications, the sheet may be made of a carbonaceous material such as carbon fiber or graphite treated to rigidly retain a shape including the first and second set of corrugations within the sheet. The sheet may be reinforced by securing support members or additional corrugated sheets to the sheet.

A flat laminate element made of thermoplastic is hot-formed in a two-stage method. In a first stage, the flat laminate which includes film(s) and/or panels(n) is placed on a flat frame-shaped pallet and is heated to a forming temperature in a heating zone between two flat heat screens in a contactless manner. The edge zone of the hot flat laminate element lies on the pallet such that the laminate piece cannot be clamped in a first laminate direction but rather can be slide on the pallet in this direction. Two non-flat rigid contours which are identical or largely identical act on two opposing parallel laminate edge sections uniaxially and perpendicularly to the laminate plane and only in the first laminate direction, i.e. monodirectionally, and shape the entire heated laminate element into a monodirectionally molded blank.

A flat laminate element made of thermoplastic is hot-formed in a two-stage method. In a first stage, the flat laminate which includes film(s) and/or panels(n) is placed on a flat frame-shaped pallet and is heated to a forming temperature in a heating zone between two flat heat screens in a contactless manner. The edge zone of the hot flat laminate element lies on the pallet such that the laminate piece cannot be clamped in a first laminate direction but rather can be slide on the pallet in this direction. Two non-flat rigid contours which are identical or largely identical act on two opposing parallel laminate edge sections uniaxially and perpendicularly to the laminate plane and only in the first laminate direction, i.e. monodirectionally, and shape the entire heated laminate element into a monodirectionally molded blank.

Methods and systems herein relate to forming an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two upper appliance button protrusions; forming a lower dental appliance chassis including at least two lower appliance button protrusions and at least two vertical displacement bite pads; injection overmolding a first thermoplastic on the upper dental appliance chassis to provide a first reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis that exposes the at least two upper appliance button protrusions to form an upper dental tray; and injection overmolding a second thermoplastic on the upper dental appliance chassis to provide a second reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the lower dental appliance chassis that exposes the at least two lower appliance button protrusions and the at least two vertical displacement bite pads to form a bottom dental tray.

A method of thermoforming is described. The method comprises providing a multilayer polymer film comprising at least one first thermoplastic polymer layer having a glass transition temperature (Tg) greater than 60° C. and at least one second polymer layer; and thermoforming the multilayer polymer film into a three-dimensional shape. The second polymer layer can be characterized by one or more properties selected from i) a Tg ranging from 20 to 70° C.; ii) a molecular weight between crosslinks of no greater than 20,000 g/mole; and iii) sufficient crosslinking such that the second polymer layer lacks a thermal melt or softening transition at a temperature up to the decomposition temperature of the second polymer layer. Also described are multilayer films and articles, such as orthodontic aligner and retainer trays.

A method for manufacturing a luggage formed by composite material includes the steps: A) using a vacuum molding method to make a thermoplastic sheet into a shell; B) placing the shell in an inner cavity mold area of a heating mold to correspond the outer surface of the shell to the inner wall surface of the inner cavity mold area; C) setting the outer surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer on the inner surface of the shell ; D) setting the reinforcing layer on the inner surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer at the location corresponding to the corner of the shell; and E) placing an airbag in the receiving area of the shell and inflating the airbag to support the inner surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer and the reinforcing layer.

A method for manufacturing a luggage formed by composite material includes the steps: A) using a vacuum molding method to make a thermoplastic sheet into a shell; B) placing the shell in an inner cavity mold area of a heating mold to correspond the outer surface of the shell to the inner wall surface of the inner cavity mold area; C) setting the outer surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer on the inner surface of the shell ; D) setting the reinforcing layer on the inner surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer at the location corresponding to the corner of the shell; and E) placing an airbag in the receiving area of the shell and inflating the airbag to support the inner surface of the thermosetting carbon fiber plastic layer and the reinforcing layer.

An automated wrapping system for wrapping a substrate with a material includes a support and a nest mounted to the support that is configured to position the material between an outer portion of the substrate and the nest. The automated wrapping system also includes a material folding assembly positioned adjacent to the nest configured for movement between a rest position and an actuated position, wherein the movement of the material folding system to the actuated position engages and folds the free end portion of the material over the edge of the substrate and onto a part of the inner portion of the substrate while retaining the material against the edge of the substrate. An actuator connected to the material folding assembly moves the material folding assembly between the rest position and the actuated position.

An automated wrapping system for wrapping a substrate with a material includes a support and a nest mounted to the support that is configured to position the material between an outer portion of the substrate and the nest. The automated wrapping system also includes a material folding assembly positioned adjacent to the nest configured for movement between a rest position and an actuated position, wherein the movement of the material folding system to the actuated position engages and folds the free end portion of the material over the edge of the substrate and onto a part of the inner portion of the substrate while retaining the material against the edge of the substrate. An actuator connected to the material folding assembly moves the material folding assembly between the rest position and the actuated position.