The present invention is a flexible mold with variable thickness which is a mold body with nano-imprinting micro-structure, and the mold body is gradually thickened from its periphery to the middle. When the flexible mold with variable thickness of the present invention is subjected to a force or displaced, a larger amount of compression may be produced to cause a larger contact pressure between the micro-structure at the bottom of the mold body and the imprinted object, and to control the amount of deformation of the mold body upon stripping by the thickness difference of the mold body for overcoming the previous defect caused by the excessive draft angle or sharp pressure release.

In a method for producing a thermoplastic film having a three-dimensionally textured, embossed surface, the film is subjected prior to a subsequent shaping kind of processing step to electron-beam crosslinking, which differently crosslinks the individual surface-area regions of the film, so that the regions that undergo greater degrees of drawing out during deforming have different degrees of crosslinking than their neighboring regions.

An injection molded product may include a corner shingle resembling a single course of tiles that differ in size. The corner shingle may be a semi-crystalline thermoplastic and having a wood grain direction. Streaks may be formed in the corner shingle that are substantially parallel to the wood grain direction. The streaks may extend through an interior of the corner shingle and appear as contrasting streaks on an exterior of the corner shingle to form a variegated wood grain appearance. In addition, an injection molded vestige may be formed in the corner shingle. The injection molded vestige may be located adjacent a perimeter of the corner shingle, and may comprise the location at which material entered an injection mold through a gate.

A method for preparing a composite body (1) comprising a support body (2) and at least one decorative element (3), preferably a gemstone (3a, 3b), the support body (2) comprising a thermoplastic material, the method being characterized by the steps of: arranging the decorative element (3) on the support body (2), heating the support body (2), pressing the decorative element (3) into the support body (2) by using a stamp (4) consisting of an elastically deformable material, the material of the stamp (4) being selected from the group of elastomers.

In various embodiments, the present invention provides a method comprising: disposing upon a first substrate, a first coating; texturing the first coating with a stamp; treating the textured first coating to form a master mold; where the master mold contains a mirror image of the texture contained in the first coating; and transferring the texture from the master mold to a second substrate.

The present invention pertains to an ultraviolet-ray-curable organopolysiloxane composition containing: (A) (A-1) a straight-chain organopolysiloxane containing an alkenyl group, and (A-2) a three-dimensional-network-shaped organopolysiloxane resin containing an R.sup.1.sub.2R.sup.2SiO.sub.1/2 unit, an R.sup.1.sub.3SiO.sub.1/2 unit, an SiO.sub.2 unit, and an alkenyl group; (B) an organohydrogenpolysiloxane; (C) a photoactive platinum complex curing catalyst; and (D) an organopolysiloxane oligomer containing an R.sup.1.sub.2R.sup.2SiO.sub.1/2 unit or the R.sup.1.sub.2R.sup.2SiO.sub.1/2 unit and an R.sup.1.sub.3R.sup.2SiO.sub.1/2 unit, also containing an R.sup.1SiO.sub.3/2 unit, not containing an SiO.sub.2 unit, and also containing an alkenyl group. As a result, this ultraviolet-ray-curable organopolysiloxane composition retains high strength and does extremely well suppressing heat-induced expansion or contraction; hence, it is possible to transfer a pattern and print with high dimensional accuracy.

A method for removing matrix from a composite material comprising reinforcement embedded in a matrix and having a thickness bounded by the first surface and a second surface of the composite material. A laser is oriented with a beam axis of the laser approximately perpendicular to the first surface of the composite material. The laser travels over a region of the first surface of the composite material, wherein the laser removes a portion of or the entire thickness of the composite matrix at the region while leaving the reinforcement of the composite material intact.

A stamp for micro-transfer printing includes a body and one or more posts extending from the body. At least one of the posts has a non-planar surface contour on the distal end of the post having a size, shape, or size and shape that accommodates a non-planar contact surface of a micro-transfer printable device.

A compact deformation-based micro-texturing apparatus and method employ flexure bearing houses for rotatably supporting opposite ends of each of a first (e.g. upper) roll and a second (e.g. lower) roll to provide a working roll gap between the rolls, wherein at least one of the rolls has one or more micro surface features to plastically deform a surface of a workpiece deformed by rolling action in the roll gap. An electrical current may be passed through the workpiece to assist micro deformation. A roll gap adjusting device is operably associated with the first and second flexure bearing houses for adjusting the roll gap dimension to the final depth of the micro surface features to be imparted to the surface of the workpiece by the rolling action. A sheet material or antifriction element (e.g. journal bearing or bushing) is produced having at least one surface that includes rolled-in micro surface depressions wherein depressions have a lateral dimension of about 1 m to about 10 mm and a depth of about 1 m to about 10 mm, typically a lateral dimension of about 1 m to about 100 m and a depth of about 1 m to about 100 m.

A stamp for micro-transfer printing includes a support having a support stiffness and a support coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). A pedestal layer is formed on the support, the pedestal layer having a pedestal layer stiffness that is less than the support stiffness and a pedestal layer coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is different from the support coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). A stamp layer is formed on the pedestal layer, the stamp layer having a body and one or more protrusions extending from the body in a direction away from the pedestal layer. The stamp layer has a stamp layer stiffness that is less than the support stiffness and a stamp layer coefficient of thermal expansion that is different from the support coefficient of thermal expansion.