A method for forming a thermoplastic body having regions with varied material composition and/or porosity. Powder blends comprising a thermoplastic polymer, a sacrificial porogen and an inorganic reinforcement or filler are molded to form complementary parts with closely toleranced mating surfaces. The parts are formed discretely, assembled and compression molded to provide a unitary article that is free from discernible boundaries between the assembled parts. Each part in the assembly has differences in composition and/or porosity, and the assembly has accurate physical features throughout the sections of the formed article, without distortion and nonuniformities caused by variable compaction and densification rates in methods that involve compression molding powder blends in a single step.

A manufacturing system includes a cutting machine, an adhesion machine, and a pick-and-place system. The cutting machine sequentially cuts a continuous length of a unidirectional prepreg into prepreg segments. Each prepreg segment has an opposing pair of segment cut edges that are non-parallel to a lengthwise direction of the unidirectional prepreg. The adhesion machine has a conveyor belt and an adhesion station. The pick-and-place system sequentially picks up the prepreg segments from the cutting machine, and places the prepreg segments in end-to-end relation on the conveyor belt, and in an orientation such that the segment cut edges are generally parallel to a lengthwise direction of the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt feeds the prepreg segments to the adhesion station. The adhesion station adheres the prepreg segments to a continuous length of a backing material, thereby resulting in a continuous length of a backed cross-ply prepreg.

Systems and methods for making a reduced material container (105) are provided that hold a preform (130) adjacent to an open end (165) of the preform (130), stretch the preform (130), close a mold (110, 120) about the stretched preform (175) to form a truncated preform (185), and introduce a pressurized fluid (160) into the truncated preform (185) to expand the truncated preform (185) and form the reduced material container (105). A stretch rod (125) can be inserted into the preform (130) to mechanically stretching the preform (130). The mold (110, 120) accepts the preform (130) at a first end (135) thereof, has an open state and a closed state, and the closed state forms a cavity (140) defining an internal surface (145) having a second end (150) located remotely from the first end (135). A first length (155) is defined by a distance between the first end (135) and the second end (150), the stretch rod (125) mechanically stretching the preform (130) to a second length (170), the second length (170) being greater than the first length (155).

Thin, self-supporting biaxially expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) membranes that have a high crystallinity index, high intrinsic strength, low areal density (i.e., lightweight), and high optical transparency are provided. In particular, the ePTFE membrane may have a crystallinity index of at least about 94% and a matrix tensile strength at least about 600 MPa in both longitudinal nd transverse directions. In addition, the ePTFE membrane is transparent or invisible to the naked eye through a complete conversion of the PTFE primary particles into fibrils. The ePTFE membrane may have a thickness per layer of less than 100 nm and a porosity reater than 50%. Further, the ePTFE membrane is stackable, which, in turn, may be used to control permeability, pore size, and/or bulk mechanical properties. The ePTFE membrane may be used to form composites, laminates, fibers, tapes, sheets, tubes, or three-dimensional objects. Additionally, the ePTFE membrane may be used in filtration applications.

A lid suitable for closing a metal can includes a metal ring onto which a peelable membrane is sealed. An inner annular part of the metal ring is equipped with a roll defining an annular space therebetween. The first connection portion of the roll and the second connection portion of the inner annular part opposite are sealed to one another by element of a heat-sealing material to form a seal sealing the annular space so at to protect the free edge of the roll. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a lid.

The present disclosure provides a wired composite process mobile phone case manufacturing method, including following steps: A. cutting raw material sheets according to a preset size, and cleaning and drying the raw material sheets; B. positioning the raw material sheets on a curing device, coating optical Ultraviolet Rays (UV) glue on the raw material sheets, placing wired materials on surfaces of the raw material sheets coated with the optical UV glue, then coating the optical UV glue on surfaces of the wired materials, and laying the raw material sheets on the surfaces of the wired materials; C. curing the optical UV glue to obtain a semi-finished product of a mobile phone case; and D. injection molding the semi-finished product of the mobile phone case to obtain a finished product of the mobile phone case.

A method of forming an orthodontic aligner from an aligner digital model, the method comprising the steps of: three-dimensionally printing an intermediate structure comprising fused filaments from a biocompatible thermoplastic according to the aligner digital model via fused deposition modelling; coating the intermediate structure with a biocompatible translucent photopolymer; and irradiating the coating with ultraviolet light to cure the coating on the intermediate structure, thereby forming the orthodontic aligner.

Thermoforming apparatus (1) for thermoforming an article (2), preferably a permeable article (2′), comprising: an elastic membrane (3,3′); a mould (4,4′); a hot air source (5) configured to blow a hot airflow (6) towards a zone (7) of the apparatus (1) configured to receive the article (2,2′) to be thermoformed; an actuation system (8) configured to move the mould (4,4′) towards the membrane (3,3′) or vice versa to compress the heated article (2,2′) between the membrane (3,3′) and the mould (4) such that an elastic force of the membrane (3,3′) on the article (2,2′) forces the article (2,2′) to assume the shape of the mould (4).2. Thermoforming apparatus (1) according to claim 1, wherein the mould (4′) and/or membrane (3′) are perforated so to permit a transit of the hot airflow (6) from the hot air source (5) to said zone (7). Thermoforming process of an article (2,2′) in a thermoforming apparatus (1) comprising an elastic membrane (3,3′), a mould (4,4′) and a hot air source (5), comprising the steps of: heating the article (2,2′) through a hot airflow (6) blew by the hot air source (5); compressing the heated article (2,2′) between the membrane (3,3′) and/or the mould (4,4′) by uniquely moving the mould (4,4′) and the membrane (3,3′) one toward the other such that an elastic force of the membrane (3,3′) forces the article (2,2′) to assume the shape of the mould (4,4′).

A method for producing a planar composite component having a core layer (B), which is arranged between and integrally bonded to two cover layers (A, A′), wherein the cover layers contain a cover-layer thermoplastic and wherein the core layer contains a core-layer thermoplastic, comprises the following steps: a) a heated stack with layer sequence A-B-A′ is provided; b) the heated stack (A-B-A′) is pressed; c) the pressed stack is cooled, whereby the planar composite component with consolidated layers integrally bonded to each other is formed. To improve the production method including the producibility of planar 3D components, it is proposed, that at least one of the cover layers (A, A′) in unconsolidated form comprises a fibrous nonwoven layer of 10 to 100 wt.-% thermoplastic fibers of the cover-layer thermo-plastic and 0 to 90 wt.-% of reinforcing fibers having an areal weight of 300 to 3,000 g/m.sup.2; the core layer (B) in unconsolidated form comprises at least one randomly-oriented-fiber nonwoven layer (D) formed from reinforcing fibers and thermoplastic fibers of the core-layer thermoplastic,
and that after the pressing the consolidated core layer(s) has/have an air pore content of <5 vol.-% and the consolidated core layer has an air pore content of 20 to 80 vol-%.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods to secure a film to a container are provided. An example sealing device utilizes film from a supply of film to seal a lid onto a container. Various sizes of containers are usable with some example sealing devices. Additional features, such as printing on the film and piercing the film for ventilation and/or insertion of a straw are contemplated. One or more markings along the film may be utilized for confirming that an approved film has been loaded into the sealing device. In response, various components or features of the sealing device may be appropriately enabled or disabled. The one or more markings may also be utilized to convey data to the sealing device regarding the installed film, such as for improved operation thereof.