An antimicrobial protective film that can be applied to a surface such as a screen of a smartphone or computing device. The user is able to view items displayed on the screen and to interact with the screen via touch or the like. The protective film includes a base layer or film upon which a second layer is formed, and this second layer includes numerous structures, e.g., micro or nano structures. The structures have a geometry that is unfriendly for viruses and bacteria. The structures are embedded with antimicrobial and/or antiviral agents that migrate out of the structures and kill or at least detrimentally affect the viruses or bacteria received within the second layer. This effect is combined with the fact that the structures are made with geometries particularly devastating to microbes during elongation and contraction of the structures with the thermal-based expansion and contraction of the underlying base layer.

A method of forming a shipping container includes mixing paper fibers with a binder fiber to form a mixture; disposing the mixture onto a surface to form a layer of the mixture; applying heat to form a paper fiber batt from the mixture having a fixed width and fixed length; and inserting the paper fiber batt within an interior of a corrugated box.

Open cell foam compositions are provided including a thermoplastic polymeric matrix and at least one filler. In some embodiments of the foam compositions, the filler includes nepheline syenite. Methods of making the foam compositions are described, the methods including (a) obtaining a composite materials containing a first thermoplastic polymer having a filler component and a blowing agent distributed therein; (b) coextruding the composite material with a second thermoplastic polymer and a third thermoplastic polymer to form a three-layer composition, wherein the three-layer composition includes a middle layer comprising an open cell foam formed from the foam composition, and the middle layer is disposed between the first and the second outer layers formed from the second and the third thermoplastic polymers, respectively; and (c) separating the middle layer from each of the first and the second outer layer. The first thermoplastic polymer is different from the second and the third thermoplastic polymers.

A unitary reinforced composite based panel component, and methods of construction thereof is provided. The unitary reinforced panel component eliminates the need for adhesively joining an offset piece to the backside of a panel, to provide additional reinforcing strength thereby improving efficiency and eliminating bond-line read-through (BLRT). A vehicle component is prepared with resort to a preform made of selective comingled fiber bundle positioning (SCFBP) to selectively place co-mingled fibers that are enriched in carbon fiber as a reinforcement relative to other region that rely on a relatively higher percentage of glass fiber reinforcement to create such a preform.

A repulpable insulation material includes a batt formed of a mixture of thermoplastic binder fibers and cellulose fibers bound together by the thermoplastic binder fibers. The thermoplastic binder fibers make up about 0.5% to 25% by weight of the batt. The repulpable insulation material have a weight within a range from 1000 GSM to 1600 GSM. Subjecting the repulpable insulation material to a repulpability test produces greater than 85% fiber yield.

A composite material component manufacturing method including a first thermoforming step for creating a first three-dimensional prepreg sheet by thermoforming a thermoplastic first prepreg sheet into a three dimensional shape, a laminate body creating step for creating a prepreg sheet laminate body by layering the first three-dimensional prepreg sheet and a second prepreg sheet; and a laminate body molding step for molding the prepreg sheet laminate body by applying heat and a pressing force to the prepreg sheet laminate body with a pressing device.

Provided is a thermoplastic resin composition, including (a) 100 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin including 80-100% by weight of a base resin and 0-20% by weight of a reinforcing resin; (b) 2-60 parts by weight of linear carbon fibers having an average diameter of 1-15 μm; (c) 1-5 parts by weight of carbon nanofibrils having a BET specific surface area of 200-400 m.sup.2/g; (d) 1-15 parts by weight of carbon nanoplates; and (e) 1-25 parts by weight of metal powder, a method of preparing the thermoplastic resin composition, and an injection-molded article manufactured using the thermoplastic resin composition. The thermoplastic resin composition has excellent mechanical properties, e.g., impact strength, and also excellent conductivity, heat resistance, and electromagnetic wave shielding capacity, particularly high shielding efficiency against high-frequency electromagnetic waves, and thus can be used as automobile, electric, and electronic parts, and as a substitute for aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys.

A repulpable insulated container assembly having a container formed of paper such as corrugated cardboard or varying paper materials and defining an interior; and a repulpable insert placed within the interior of the container and formed of a first paper layer; and a paper fiber pad coupled to the first paper layer.

A method of forming a shipping container includes mixing paper fibers with a binder fiber to form a mixture; disposing the mixture onto a surface to form a layer of the mixture; applying heat to form a paper fiber batt from the mixture having a fixed width and fixed length; and inserting the paper fiber batt within an interior of a corrugated box.

A process is provided for thermal molding an article with at least one layer of thermoplastic fibers that are non-woven and uni-directionally oriented in combination with at least one layer of reinforcing fibers. The reinforcing fibers including glass, carbon, nature based, and combinations thereof; alone or mixed with chopped thermoplastic fibers. Upon subjecting the layers to sufficient heat to thermally bond in the presence of non-oriented filler fibers, thermoplastic fiber fusion encapsulates the filler fibers. The filler fibers impart physical properties to the resulting article and the residual unidirectional orientation of the thermoplastic melt imparts physical properties in the fiber direction to the article. By combining layers with varying orientations of uni-directional fibers relative to one another, the physical properties of the resulting article may be controlled and extended relative to conventional thermoplastic moldings. The uni-directional fibers may have discontinuities along the length of individual fibers.