A panel for forming a floor covering has a substrate including at least a layer of thermoplastic material, where the panel, above the layer, has at least also a printed décor and a translucent or transparent wear layer. The layer also includes at least individual fibers having a length greater than 1 millimeter, where the individual fibers are loose and freely distributed with the layer of thermoplastic material.

A composite sheet comprising two or more layers is described where the degree of abrasiveness of can be controlled. The sheet can comprise partially or wholly biodegradable or compostable materials or blends thereof. Methods of preparing the composite sheets are also described.

Systems and methods for filament fastener that cures with composite part. One embodiment is a method of fabricating a composite part. The method includes placing layers of reinforcement fibers over a tool to form a laminate of composite material to be cured with a first resin, forming a filament fastener comprising bundled fibers with one or more texture elements around the bundled fibers, and coating the filament fastener with a second resin that is chemically compatible with the first resin. The method also includes inserting the filament fastener into the laminate through a plurality of the layers, and curing the filament fastener within the laminate to bind the plurality of the layers of the laminate with the one or more texture elements of the filament fastener via bonding of the first resin and the second resin to form the composite part with delamination resistance.

A laminated surface covering including a facing material made of vinyl and a backing material comprising a rubber component. The rubber component comprising at least a matrix of bonded rubber granules. A bonding material disposed between the facing material and the backing material. The facing material configured to melt at a temperature between 165° F. and 248° F. infiltrating the backing material thereby essentially encasing the rubber granules of the matrix and providing fire retardation and smoke suppression qualities.

As described above, one or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles having structural color, and methods of making articles having structural color.

A method of forming a building material device utilizing a vehicle tire where the vehicle tire is split into three portions. Two of the vehicle portions are recombined into a subunit which is capable of holding the third portion within a chamber. The subunit containing the second portion is then combined with panels to form a finished unit capable of being used in a building structure.

A method for connecting insulation panels, each of the panels comprising a cellulosic web having two sides and an outside edge, and comprising layers of cellulosic fibers, the method comprising: a) arranging a portion of each panel to be adjacent to the other, thereby forming an edge portion where the two webs can be connected; b) relaxing the fibers of cellulosic material in the edge portion of each insulation panel by applying heat to the edge portion at a temperature of 150° F. to 450° F., thereby forming a relaxed fiber edge portion; c) compressing the relaxed fiber edge portion of each insulation panel at a pressure of at least 5 psig, thereby forming a compressed panel portion having a thickness and a density; and d) fastening the compressed panel portions together using sewing, riveting, adhesive, tape, interlacing, stamping, ply bonding or stapling thereby forming a fastened area,
wherein step (c) can be conducted at the same time or following step (b).

A fabric and a method for making the same. The fabric includes a layer of unidirectionally oriented carbon fibre filaments sandwiched between a first layer of glass fibre rovings and a second layer of glass fibre rovings. The first layer of glass fibre rovings and the second layer of glass fibre rovings are linked by a connecting material.

A composite material structure includes a first fiber layer, a second fiber layer, and a third fiber layer. The first fiber layer is composed of a first long fiber and a first resin material. The second fiber layer is composed of a second long fiber and a second resin material. The third fiber layer is disposed between the first fiber layer and the second fiber layer. The third fiber layer is composed of a short fiber and a third resin material. A length of the first long fiber and a length of the second long fiber are both greater than a length of the short fiber, and the length of the short fiber is less than or equal to 25 mm.

As described above, one or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles having structural color, and methods of making articles having structural color.