A method for producing a heat-shrinkable product is provided. First, a polymer composition containing a polymer, a crosslinking agent and a micro-encapsulated foaming agent uniformly dispensed therein is melt mixed. The foaming agent has a peak activation temperature which is higher than a temperature of the melt mixing. Next, the polymer composition is injection molded into a molded product. This carried out at the peak activation temperature to activate the foaming agent. Then, the molded product is crosslinked within the mold.

A method for 3D printing a patient-specific bone implant having variable density, in various aspects, comprises: (1) providing a thermoplastic polymer composition comprising: (A) between about 20% and about 50% bioactive agent by weight; (B) between about 0.5% and about 10% chemical foaming agent by weight; and (C) balance structural polymer by weight; (2) receiving, by computing hardware, a scan of a bone, the scan comprising at least a 3D image of the bone and radiodensity data for the bone; and (3) causing, by the computing hardware, a 3D printer to form the patient-specific bone implant from the 3D image using the thermoplastic polymer by modifying a 3D printing temperature of the 3D printer during printing of the patient-specific bone implant such that each portion of the patient-specific bone implant is produced at a temperature that corresponds to a desired density defined by the radiodensity data for the bone.

A shaped object production method includes a first preparation step (S30) of preparing a molding sheet that includes a base, a thermally expansive layer laminated on a first main surface of the base, the thermally expansive layer including a thermally expandable material, and a brushed layer laminated on a surface of the thermally expansive layer on a side that is opposite to the base, the brushed layer including fiber; a first heat conversion layer laminating step (S40) of laminating a heat conversion layer that converts electromagnetic waves into heat onto a surface of the molding sheet on a side that is opposite to the brushed layer; and a first unevenness forming step (S50) of forming an unevenness on the surface of the thermally expansive layer on the side that is opposite to the base by irradiating the heat conversion layer with electromagnetic waves, thereby causing the thermally expandable material to expand.

Present invention is related to an evenly heating method for enhancing heating result having steps of: introducing a foam material into a mould, compressing the foam material by a mechanical force to a preset thickness or status, and heating the foam material to obtain a foam product. By applying the mechanical force to the foam material during the process, the foam material could be compressed into a more compact status in order to be heated more evenly and thoroughly. The present invention provides the foam product in good quality by a simple and low cost heating method.

A three-dimensional component is produced in a simplified molding operation. Expandable substrates, which are referred to as blanks, are created by compressing thermobonded nonwovens after heating the binder material above its melting temperature, and then cooling the compressed nonwovens so that the binder material hardens and holds the fibers of the nonwoven together in a compressed configuration with stored kinetic energy. Boards can be formed by laminating two or more blanks together and/or by laminating the blanks with other materials, including non-expendable materials. A mold for the component to be manufactured can be partially filled with a number of boards (or blanks) in a stacked, vertically, adjacent or even random orientation. In addition, the boards or blanks may be cut to create desired shapes of parts that can be placed in the mold.

A mobile molding system, comprising a vehicle and one or more molds arranged on the vehicle configured for receiving one or more expandable nonwoven substrates, heating said one or more expandable nonwoven substrates so as to cause said one or more expandable nonwoven substrates to expand and fill the one or more molds with one or more expanded nonwoven containing articles of three dimensional shape, and releasing said one or more expanded nonwoven containing articles of three dimensional shape from the one or more molds is provided. Methods for manufacturing three dimensional objects using the mobile molding system are also provided.

Foamed acrylic materials using both traditional chemical blowing agents as well as foamable microspheres. The acrylic foams have improved density reduction, optical properties, and insulation properties. The acrylic foams can be formed by traditional melt processing methods (extrusion, blow molding, etc.) as well as innovative foaming methods, such as foaming during or after polymerization. One method involves the use of expandable microspheres blended with monomers, the monomers then polymerized through bulk polymerization in cell cast, infusion, or compression molding processes. This method can be effectively used to produce composite foam structures.

In various aspects, the disclosure relates to a method of forming a molded article comprising: combining, to form a blend, a polymer base resin and a thermally conductive filler, wherein the thermally conductive filler comprises a platelet filler having a thickness between 100 nm and 10 microns; feeding the blend to a mold cavity of a suitable molding apparatus, wherein the mold cavity has a mold portion that may be retracted in a through-plane direction; foaming the blend to allow a pressure drop; and retracting the mold portion in the through-plane direction to provide the molded article.

A method of manufacturing a composite rim includes following steps of: disposing a composite material on an outer surface of an air bag to form a semi-formed rim, wherein the air bag is a completely closed annular tube without any through opening on the outer surface and contains a thermal expansion material thereinside; disposing the semi-formed rim in a mold; and heating the thermal expansion material so that the thermal expansion material expands and inflates the air bag and the semi-formed rim is then solidified.

Provided are a constrained-type vibration-damping metal sheet having foam pores and a method for manufacturing same. The constrained-type vibration-damping metal sheet of the present invention comprises: a lower metal sheet; a foam resin film bonded to the lower metal sheet; and an upper metal sheet bonded to the foam resin film, wherein the foam resin film has foam pores comprising, by wt % of itself, 85-95% of a thermoplastic polyethylene resin having a number average molecular weight of 8000-12000, 0.1-1% of stearic acid, 1-5% of a styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene (SEBS) resin, 0.5-5% of a foaming agent, 1-4% of a dicumyl peroxide crosslinking agent, and 0.5-2% of ZnO foaming aid.