A method of forming a substrate for a sports surface of a sports pitch includes the steps of: a) Agglomerating plastics materials; b) Granulating the agglomerated plastics materials to form granules having a predetermined range of sizes; c) In situ coating the granules with a binding material so that they form a fluent material; d) Forming a layer of the fluent material on the site of the sports pitch; and e) Setting the laid material such that the granules adhere where they contact each other to form a voided water permeable structure.

Methods and systems for continuously bagging pellets formed from a tacky and/or polymer containing formulation include improved drying systems and techniques. The methods and systems may include directing a flow of air to help contain moisture within a dryer, transport pellets out of the dryer, and/or dry pellets as they move away from the dryer. The methods and systems may include conditioning (e.g., drying, coating, classifying) the pellets using a conditioning unit prior to bagging the pellets.

A method of manufacturing a nanocomposite includes exposing dry nanoparticles to a dry, solid matrix material or pellets in a container to form a combination which is then agitated by rotating about an axis transverse to a direction of gravity, at room temperature and without grinding objects, to cause a tumbling action between the pellets and the nanoparticles to thereby evenly disperse and coat the nanoparticles directly on outer surfaces of the pellets which remain in a solid phase and of the same size throughout rotating. The method also includes processing the resulting combination, particularly polypropylene pellets and carbon black nanoparticles, by heating to form a viscous combination which is then drawn to form a nanocomposite fiber having carbon black nanoparticles dispersed evenly throughout the polypropylene, with a resulting fiber having a diameter of 30 m-100 m and tensile strength of 300-1500% greater than a similar polypropylene fiber produced without the nanoparticles.

The present invention relates to a process for producing surface-postcrosslinked water-absorbent polymer particles comprising polymerizing droplets of a monomer solution, wherein water-absorbent polymer particles having an average particle diameter from 150 to 400 , an amount of water-absorbent polymer particles having a particle size of less than 100 of less than 5% by weight and an amount of water-absorbent polymer particles having a particle size of more than 500 of less than 5% by weight are coated with at least one surface-postcrosslinker and thermal surface-postcrosslinked.

Preparing hybrid-treated plastic particles from waste plastic includes combining waste plastic particles with bio-oil to yield a mixture, irradiating the mixture with microwave radiation to yield oil-treated plastic particles, and contacting the oil-treated plastic particles with carbon-containing nanoparticles to yield hybrid-treated plastic particles. The hybrid-treated plastic particles have a bio-oil modified surface and a coating comprising carbon-containing nanoparticles on the bio-oil modified surface of the plastic particle. In some examples, a diameter of the plastic particle is in a range between 250 m and 750 m, and a thickness of the coating is in a range of 1 nm to 20 nm. A modified binder includes an asphalt binder or a concrete binder and a multiplicity of the treated plastic particles. The modified binder typically includes 5 wt % to 25 wt % of the hybrid-treated plastic particles.

Feedstocks for additive manufacturing are provided. The feedstock may include a matrix material, and one or more capsules disposed in the matrix material, wherein the one or more capsules are configured to be removable from a surface portion when the matrix material is solidified to form one or more cavities in the surface portion. Methods of depositing the feedstocks and objects formed from the feedstocks are also provided.

A polymer powder having a surface energy of less than 35 mN/m is suitable for melting/sintering powder particles for layer-by-layer production of three-dimensional objects.

A method of making an article includes mixing a filler material and a polymer matrix material to produce a composite material, introducing the composite material produced by the mixing into a mold of a desired shape, and removing an article having the desired shape from the mold. The resulting article has a water absorption of less than about one percent and the filler material comprises vitreous china.

Feedstocks for additive manufacturing are provided. The feedstock may include a matrix material, and one or more capsules disposed in the matrix material, wherein the one or more capsules are configured to be removable from a surface portion when the matrix material is solidified to form one or more cavities in the surface portion. Methods of depositing the feedstocks and objects formed from the feedstocks are also provided.

A method of making an article includes mixing a filler material and a polymer matrix material to produce a composite material, introducing the composite material produced by the mixing into a mold of a desired shape, and removing an article having the desired shape from the mold. The resulting article has a water absorption of less than about one percent and the filler material comprises vitreous china.