A unit (10) for the regulation or control of a fluid pressure, having at least one housing section (13, 14) and a switching film (22) connected to the at least one housing section (13, 14) for switching at pressure differentials relative to an ambient pressure acting on the switching film (22), and for the regulation, release or blocking of a flow of the fluid between an inlet (28) and a discharge (30) for the fluid. The switching film (22) is made out of a polymer material having fluorine and carbon, in particular a thermoplastic having fluorine and carbon. In this arrangement, a hole cross-section (40) of the at least one housing section (13, 14) is closed off by the switching film (22).

A molded article containing a crystal of a fluoropolymer. The fluoropolymer contains at least one selected from vinylidene fluoride/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, an ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, a tetrafluoroethylene/perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer and a tetrafluoroethylene/hexafluoropropylene copolymer. Further, the crystal is a nano-oriented crystal having a size of 300 nm or smaller.

Flexible packages, transdermal drug delivery devices, and methods for fabricating packages are provided. An exemplary flexible package includes a chemical and moisture resistant layer formed from poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene-co-vinylidene fluoride) (“P(CTFE-co-VDF)”) copolymer. Further, the exemplary flexible package includes a substance to be delivered. The substance is applied to or enclosed by the chemical and moisture resistant layer.

Flexible packages, transdermal drug delivery devices, and methods for fabricating packages are provided. An exemplary flexible package includes a chemical and moisture resistant layer formed from poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene-co-vinylidene fluoride) (“P(CTFE-co-VDF)”) copolymer. Further, the exemplary flexible package includes a substance to be delivered. The substance is applied to or enclosed by the chemical and moisture resistant layer.

Micropump (10) including a support structure (14), a pump tube (16), and an actuation system (18) comprising one or more pump chamber actuators (28), the pump tube comprising a pump chamber portion (24) defining therein a pump chamber (26), an inlet portion (20) for inflow of fluid into the pump chamber, and an outlet portion (22) for outflow of fluid from the pump chamber. The inlet, outlet and pump chamber portions form part of a continuous section of tube made of a supple material. The one or more pump chamber actuators are configured to bias against the pump chamber portion to expel liquid contained in the pump chamber via the outlet portion, respectively to bias away from the pump chamber portion to allow liquid to enter the pump chamber via the inlet portion. The pump chamber portion has a cross-sectional area Ap in an expanded state that is larger than a cross-sectional area Ai of the pump tube at the inlet and outlet portions.

A photocurable resin composition is provided that is suitable for use in stereolithography, comprising from about 2 weight percent to about 75 weight percent of a fluoropolymer, particularly poly(1,1-difluoroethylene), or an aromatic engineering thermoplastic polymer, a sulfur-based engineering thermoplastic polymer, a fluorine-based engineering thermoplastic polymer, or a commodity thermoplastic polymer. Also provided is a process for making three dimensional objects from successive layers of the photocurable resin composition described herein.

A method of recovering fluoropolymer from a three-dimensional printed object can include dissolving a fluoropolymer of a three-dimensional printed object in a fluoropolymer-dissolving solvent to generate dissolved fluoropolymer from the three-dimensional object, wherein the three-dimensional printed object includes from about 0.1 wt % to about 10 wt % particulate fusing compound and from about 90 wt % to about 99.9 wt % fluoropolymer. The method can further include separating the particulate fusing compound from the fluoropolymer-dissolving solvent and the dissolved fluoropolymer, and evaporating the fluoropolymer-dissolving solvent from the dissolved fluoropolymer.

There is provided a fluorine-containing copolymer comprising tetrafluoroethylene unit, hexafluoropropylene unit, and a perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether) unit, wherein the copolymer has a content of the hexafluoropropylene unit of 10.3 to 11.5% by mass with respect to the whole of the monomer units, a content of the perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether) unit of 0.8 to 1.6% by mass with respect to the whole of the monomer units, and a melt flow rate at 372° C. of 10.0 to 13.0 g/10 min.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a fluoropolymer article having a high surface roughness and high coarseness which comprises the following steps: a) forming a paste comprising a fluoropolymer into a paste-formed fluoropolymer product at a temperature lower than 50° C., b) densifying the paste-formed product, and c) stretching the densified paste-formed fluoropolymer product in at least one direction. The present invention further relates to a fluoropolymer article obtainable by a process according to the invention. The present invention furthermore relates to a fiber comprising, or consisting of, a fluoropolymer having a surface roughness expressed as a peak to valley distance (Rt) greater than 10 micrometer and/or an average surface roughness (Ra) greater than 1.5 micrometer. The present invention furthermore relates to a membrane comprising, or consisting of, a fluoropolymer having a coarseness index ρ/EBP of at least 0.3, an air permeability of 15 ft.sup.3/ft.sup.2/min or higher and a node aspect ratio of below 25.

A method of producing a composite material including carbon fiber and a melt-fabricable fluororesin, the method including: (1) preparing a prepreg by heating and compressing a stack of opened carbon fiber and a film of a melt-fabricable fluororesin at a temperature not lower than a melting point of the fluororesin, the film having a back tension set to 3.0 N/cm.sup.2 or less; and (2) preparing a composite material by heating and compressing one or more sheets or pieces of the prepreg stacked in a thickness direction at a temperature not lower than the melting point of the fluororesin.