A sheet processing system for producing a printed item. The system includes a sheet feeding station to feed printed sheets one at a time, adjacently, to a laminating station to adhere a laminating material to the printed sheets, and a base item application station to apply a base item to the printed sheets, thereby turning each of the fed single printed sheets into a continuous printed sheet.

Composite article comprising at least two layers of component a) and at least one layer of component b). The layers and are alternately linked together. Component a) has a compressive modulus of at least 10 MPa in contrast to the component b), which has a compression stress value at a compression of 40% of not more than 20 kPa. Composite articles are semi-flexible materials due to alternating rigid and flexible segments within the articles. Articles optionally contain at least one additional layer of component b), which layer is also alternately linked together with the respective layers of component a). At least one layer crosses at least one layer with an angle in the range of 0<<180, wherein both layers and are made of component b). Also, a method for producing those composite articles and the use of those composite articles in composite applications.

Provided is a thermal conducting sheet, including: a binder resin; insulating-coated carbon fibers; and a thermal conducting filler other than the insulating-coated carbon fibers, wherein the insulating-coated carbon fibers include carbon fibers and a coating film over at least a part of a surface of the carbon fibers, the coating film being formed of a cured product of a polymerizable material.

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a fiber reinforced resin material, the method including an opening step of opening an elongated fiber bundle to be widened in a width direction thereof to be put into a flat state; and a heat setting step of heat-setting the opened fiber bundle in the flat state by heating. In addition, the present invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a fiber reinforced resin material containing a plurality of fiber bundles and a resin, the apparatus including an opening section that opens an elongated fiber bundle to be widened in a width direction thereof to be put into a flat state; and a heat setting section that heat-sets the opened fiber bundle in the flat state by heating.

A laminated roofing shingle includes a base layer attached to an overlay layer. The overlay layer provides tabs extending from a long edge. The tabs have a width that is exposed when the shingle is installed. The exposed surface of the base layer is covered by mineral granules from a first color group for a first distance from the long edge. The remainder of the exposed surface of the base layer is covered by mineral granules from a second color group. The exposed surface of the overlay layer is covered by mineral granules from a third color group for the first distance from the long edge. The remainder of the exposed surface of the overlay layer is covered by mineral granules from the second color group. The mineral granules may be applied to a continuous sheet in color lanes from which the base and overlay sheets may be cut.

The current invention concerns an improved method for intermittently providing strips of a continuous first web material onto a continuous second web material, in particular a method for manufacturing tampon blanks, in a continuous process, thus avoiding the disadvantages of stop-and-go methods. Furthermore, an apparatus or system is provided for executing said methods.

Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of systems and methods of applying materials to components. The materials may be applied to a wide range of substrates and components, such as lids or integrated heat spreaders of integrated circuit (IC) packages, board level shields, heat sources (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), etc.), heat removal/dissipation structures or components (e.g., a heat spreader, a heat sink, a heat pipe, a vapor chamber, a device exterior case or housing, etc.), etc.

A dimensionally stable universal floor covering includes a tufted textile having stitches and a reinforcement layer of fibers and adhesive providing dimensional stability for the entire floor covering. The fibers and adhesive are mixed and then moved by an applicator towards the stitches. A slip path is formed to improve the movement of the fibers and adhesive. A releasable adhesive or gecko-like cover system is provided which also provides additional strength and stability and a releasable attachment of the universal floor covering to a supporting surface.

Exemplary embodiments relate to various improvements in soft robotic actuators, and techniques for manufacturing the improvements. For example, techniques for manufacturing a rigidizing layer for reinforcing a soft robotic actuator is provided. In another embodiment, a soft robotic actuator having integrated sensors is described. A flexible electroadhesive pad for achieving a conformal grip is also described. Still further, exemplary embodiments provide hydraulically-actuated soft robotic grippers, which allows for a reduction in the size of the actuation system and improved underwater operation.

The present invention pertains to a process for producing an article from a layered hard coat object including a hard coat layer and a transparent-resin film layer in this order from the outermost layer side, the process comprising: a step (A) in which a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of a support having the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on at least one surface thereof is temporarily applied to at least one surface of the layered hard coat object to obtain a temporarily support-bearing layered hard coat object; a step (B) in which at least one processing method selected from the group consisting of router processing, water-jet processing, laser processing, and punching is applied to the temporarily support-bearing layered hard coat object to cut the temporarily support-bearing layered hard coat object into a given shape, thereby obtaining a temporarily support-bearing cut article; and a step (C) in which at least one kind of energy selected from the group consisting of heat and actinic rays is applied to the temporarily support-bearing cut article to reduce the strength of tackiness between the support and the article to 2 N/2.5 cm or less.