A process for welding porous membranes, the process containing i) providing first and second porous membranes; ii) at least partially superimposing the first and second porous membranes to obtain an at least partial superimposition region; iii) welding the first and second porous membranes at least in a portion of the at least one superimposition region at a temperature in the range from 100 to 300° C. to obtain an at least partially welded composite of the first and second porous membranes, wherein the first and second porous membranes are made of at least one thermoplastic elastomer selected from the group consisting of a polyurethane elastomer, a polyester elastomer, a polyetherester elastomer, a polyesterester elastomer, a polyamide elastomer, a polyetheramide elastomer, a polystyrene elastomer, and an ethylene-vinyl acetate elastomer, and wherein the first and second porous membranes have pores having an average pore diameter of less than 2000 nm.

A method for inspecting a joining surface (14) of a substrate, wherein a component is to be adhered to the joining surface of the substrate by means of an adhesive material (27), wherein the method comprises the following steps: •—providing at least one planar test textile (20), which has a fiber material (21) and an adhesive primer (22), •—applying the planar test textile to at least one part of the joining surface of the substrate to which the component is to be adhered so that the adhesive primer of the planar test textile contacts the joining surface of the substrate, •—at least partially curing the adhesive primer of the planar test textile in order to integrally bond the planar test textile to the substrate by means of the adhesive primer, •—pulling off the planar test textile after at least partially curing the adhesive primer and inspecting the joining surface by means of a qualitative evaluation of the fracture pattern between the cured adhesive primer and the planar test textile and/or by means of a quantitative evaluation of the pull-off force determined when pulling off the planar test textile.

Described herein are polyphenylene sulfide (“PPS”) polymers having excellent transparency to infrared (“IR”) radiation. It was surprisingly discovered that PPS polymer composition including PPS polymers having a selected metal ion (Ca, K, and Mg) concentration at least 400 parts per million by weight (“ppm”), had significantly increase IR transparency, relative to corresponding PPS polymer compositions including a PPS polymer having a selected metal ion concentration less than 400 ppm. Additionally, described herein are methods for laser welding the PPS polymer compositions.

Disclosed is an automated method (54) which includes directing rays from a source (34) to a tube (38) disposed between relatively movable first and second sealing plates (20, 32), capturing an image (70) of at least a portion of the tube (38) by an image capturing device (26), and transferring the captured image (70) to a processing device (24). The method (54) also includes determining a plurality of tube parameters by the processing device (24) based on the captured image (70), using an image processing technique and determining a plurality of sealing parameters from a database (44) by the processing device (24) based on the determined plurality of tube parameters. Additionally, the method (54) includes controlling the drive unit (22) and a heater (36) by the processing device (24) influenced by the determined plurality of sealing parameters, to respectively compress the tube (36) and perform heat sealing of the tube (38).

The present disclosure provides assemblies, systems and characterization methods of welded joints for thermoplastic components. More particularly, the present disclosure provides assemblies, systems and characterization methods of welded joints for thermoplastic components (e.g., thermoplastic-based fiber-reinforced composites) utilizing visualization agents (e.g., pigments and/or fluorescent agents). The present disclosure provides for assemblies, systems and characterization methods of welded joints for thermoplastic components and/or thermoplastic-based composites with enhanced visualization, sufficient for qualitative and quantitative assessment of the welded interconnected areas.

Systems for positioning and bonding a nutplate to a substrate having an aperture include a nutplate engagement fixture and a temperature sensor retention fixture. The nutplate engagement fixture includes a rigid tube and an elastomeric tube engaged with the rigid tube, the elastomeric tube having an elongated tube sized to provide a friction fit with the aperture and retain the elastomeric tube within the aperture. The rigid tube is operable to engage the nutplate at one end and the elastomeric tube is configured to anchor the nutplate engagement fixture at the aperture and secure the nutplate in contact with the substrate. The temperature sensor retention fixture includes a fixture body sized and configured to engage with the nutplate and at least one passageway within the fixture body sized and configured to allow a temperature sensor to be inserted or embedded therein with an end proximal a surface of the nutplate.

A method of producing flexible polypropylene fabric bags with heat fused seams comprising providing fabric pieces, wherein each fabric piece has a coated side and an uncoated side; positioning fabric pieces so that a coated side of one fabric piece faces a coated side of another fabric piece; selecting an area of fabric to be joined for forming a seam or joint; applying heat to the area to be joined that is less than the melting point of the fabrics, for forming one or more seams or joints and wherein the heat fused seams or joints of a resulting polypropylene bag retains at least 85% of the fabric strength without using sewing machines.

Methods for assessing fiber and bundle orientations and mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composite materials using Thermal Digital Image Correlation (TDIC) are disclosed. In some examples, the method comprises exposing the composite material to a temperature change; imaging the composite material at a plurality of time points before, during and/or after the temperature change; and assessing the characteristic of the composite material based on the imaging. In others, temperature changes naturally occur during the cooling process after manufacturing can be employed for this method such as compression molding process, injection molding process, resin transfer molding processes and its variants.

The present disclosure provides a welded body having a connecting structure formed by welding a first molded body and a second molded body, wherein the first and second molded bodies contain at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of a tetrafluoroethylene/fluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer and a tetrafluoroethylene/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, and wherein the connecting structure has a liquid contact surface to be in contact with a liquid having a solubility parameter of 14 to 35 (MPa).sup.1/2, a welded part formed in the connecting structure is not exposed to the liquid contact surface, and the number of particles of 30 nm or larger to be eluted from the liquid contact surface in the connecting structure is 1,000 particles/ml or less.

A method for acquiring a signal from an encapsulated test point on a device under test, includes forming a hole in an encapsulant adjacent to the test point, the hole extending through the encapsulant to the test point, delivering a UV-curable conductive adhesive into the hole such that the delivered adhesive contacts the test point, applying UV light from a UV light source to cure the delivered adhesive, and connecting a conductive element between the cured adhesive and a test and measurement instrument.