A thermal welding marking system for attachment to a thermal welding machine including: a hammer arm rotatably connected to a mounting bracket attached to the thermal welding machine, wherein a distal end of the hammer arm is shaped to receive a marker or pen therein; a cable or spring connected to the distal end of the hammer arm; a cable connecting the hammer arm to a hand lever mounted adjacent to hand controls on the thermal welding machine, wherein movement of the hand lever raises or lowers the distal end of the hammer arm and thereby raises or lowers the marker or pen therein. In operation, the thermal welding machine is advanced across the edges of overlapping building roofing material and the marker or pen is intermittently lowered/raised to mark locations along a seam of the edges of overlapping building roofing material where the seam is either open or closed.

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating acoustic panels. One embodiment is a method comprising acquiring a core of acoustic cells, and fabricating a facesheet covering the core by: dispensing a base layer of material atop the acoustic cells while leaving openings into each of the acoustic cells, covering the openings by applying a liner of porous material atop the base layer, dispensing a cap layer of material atop liner while leaving gaps in the cap layer over the acoustic cells, and fusing the cap layer to the liner by directly radiating laser energy onto locations where the cap layer has been dispensed.

Disclosed is a biodegradable packaging including: a biodegradable substrate including a bottom from the edge of which a wall rises so as to define an inner face capable of containing an item, such as a food item or a plant; a biodegradable film. The biodegradable substrate includes one or more openings arranged on the bottom and/or the wall, the biodegradable film being positioned on the inner face of the biodegradable medium so as to seal at least the openings. The biodegradable film is positioned on the biodegradable substrate by the in-mould labelling technique.

A composite sheet material and method for forming the same is provided that includes a substrate, a matrix, and a cover sheet. The substrate has a first face surface, a second face surface, and a plurality of edges, and includes a thermoplastic material. The matrix is attached to the substrate. The matrix includes a support component having a first melting point, and a thermoplastic component having a second melting point. The second melting point is less than the first melting point. The cover sheet imparts one or more surface characteristics to the composite sheet material during thermo-pressure formation of the composite sheet material.

Method for producing a seat for a vehicle, the bottom and the foam obtained by molding in a double mold by the following subsequent steps: gluing: in which a robot moves the molded product in front of a glue nozzle; activation: in which the robot transfers the molded product into a heating station, activating the glue; loading: in which a user arranges the cover in a loading station; superimposition: in which the cover is transferred into a superimposition station; simultaneously, a second robot grasps the molded product and moves it into the superimposition station; pressing: in which a plurality of grippers press the edge of the cover against the edge of the bottom, causing irreversible gluing between the bottom and cover, forming the seat; moving-away: in which the second robot grasps the seat from the superimposition station and places it on a conveyor belt to move it away.

An expansion apparatus includes: a first expander for irradiating with electromagnetic waves emitted from a lamp a thermal conversion layer for conversion of the electromagnetic waves to heat, to cause at least a portion of a thermal expansion layer to expand, the thermal conversion layer being laminated to a molding sheet including a base and the thermal expansion layer laminated to a first main surface of the base; and a second expander for causing expansion of a region (C) of the thermal expansion layer that is smaller in size than a region (B) of the thermal expansion layer expanded by the first expander.

An apparatus for thermoplastic welding includes at least one tool configured to support first and second thermoplastic composite parts in a first welding position having one or more joint lines between the first and second thermoplastic composite parts. The tool includes a plurality of induction coils. The apparatus further includes a susceptor removably positioned along the one or more joint lines. The susceptor is configured to heat the one or more joint lines when exposed to a magnetic flux generated by the plurality of induction coils to bond the first and second thermoplastic composite parts along the one or more joint lines. The apparatus also includes a susceptor removal device coupled to the susceptor and configured to remove the susceptor during bonding of the first and second thermoplastic composite parts.

A film fin sealing device is disclosed herein which may have a groove defining a base. The base of the groove of the fin sealing device may be oriented at a skewed angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the conveyor of a heat sealing machine. Edges of a thermoplastic sheet or two stacked layers of thermoplastic sheets are introduced into the groove of the film fin sealing device and placed in contact therewith to both heat and fuse the distal edge portions of the thermoplastic sheet(s) to join the edge portions thereof to form a fin seal.

A method for sealing the edges of composite fiber components includes applying a thermoplastic semifinished product to a cut edge of a composite fiber component and thermoplastically or integrally joining the thermoplastic semifinished product to the cut edge of the composite fiber component by ultrasonic welding.

A pipe sealing gasket is shown which is designed to be received within a raceway provided within a socket end of a female bell plastic pipe end which is assembled with a mating male pipe end to form a plastic pipe joint. The raceway in the female bell plastic pipe end is preformed during manufacture and the gasket is installed thereafter. The gasket has a rubber body portion which is reinforced by a hard plastic band formed as a series of integral, spaced wedges which are interconnected by a flexible ribbon. The gasket is flexible enough to be flexed and placed in the pipe raceway and yet the hard plastic band acts to prevent extrusion of the gasket during a variety of pressure conditions as well as preventing displacement during field assembly.