A duct that, in cross section, has one or more rounded portions is disclosed together with a method and a machine for producing it. The duct can be made from rigid foam panels with a facing on at east one side of the panels. A crimping element is used to form several substantially parallel indentations or crimps on a faced side of a panel, without breaching the facing, so that the crimped panel can be manipulated to form a section of duct with the crimps extending longitudinally. Depending on the number of crimps, the duct will appear more or less round in cross section although the crimped foam panels can be manipulated to have cross sections of different shapes such as oval. Adjacent duct sections may be joined, for example, with tape or bands, several of which are described.

In a method for producing an insulation arrangement for a functional compartment of a household appliance, a plastic material is foamed to form a foam block. The foam block is divided into blanks and each blank is shaped with a forming press to form an insulation arrangement.

A fiber-reinforced resin composite having high peeling strength between a fiber-reinforced resin and a resin foam. The fiber-reinforced resin composite (10) is a fiber-reinforced resin composite (10) including a skin (11) and a resin foam (12), the resin foam including a foamed resin (16), the skin including a fiber sheet (14), a thermoplastic matrix resin (15), and the foamed resin (16) that is continuous from the resin foam and is impregnated into the skin.

Polymeric based closed cell foams, such as shape memory polymer foams, contain bubbles. Making these bubbles continuous is called reticulation. Disclosed are embodiments of a device and method to controllably reticulate polymer-based closed cell foams by puncturing the membranes of these polymer-based closed cell foams.

The invention is directed at a method for determining the quality of a foamed unit (1), wherein the foamed unit (1) is produced by forming solidified foam (2), wherein a foamed unit edge (5) is formed by cutting through the foamed unit (1), wherein a camera (7) captures an image (8) of the foamed unit edge (5), wherein the image (8) is analyzed to detect defects (9) in the foamed unit edge (5) and wherein quality information data (11) describing the detected defects (9) is generated based on the analysis of the image (8). The method is characterized in that the foamed unit (1) is produced by a production apparatus based on production parameters (17), which production parameters (17) comprise production variables (18) measured by production instruments (20) during the production of the foamed unit (1) and/or production settings (19) input to the production apparatus, wherein based on the quality information data (11) updated production settings (21) are generated, preferably, that the updated production settings (21) are input to the production apparatus, wherein the updated production settings (21) are generated by applying the quality information data (11) and the production parameters (17) to a calculation model (22), which calculation model (22) provides a computational relationship between the production parameters (17) and the quality information data (11), preferably, that a computer system (10) generates the updated production settings (21) by applying the quality information data (11) and the production parameters (17) to the calculation model (22), in particular, that the calculation model (22) is saved on the computer system (10).The invention is also directed at a corresponding system for determining the quality of a foamed unit (1).

A method of manufacturing a polyolefin foam sheet composition includes extruding a polyolefin sheet, irradiating the extruded sheet to obtain a physically crosslinked sheet, foaming the physically crosslinked sheet with heat to obtain a foamed layer, and skiving the foamed layer to obtain a foam sheet with at least one skived surface. The surface roughness of the skived surface of the foam sheet is different from the surface roughness of an unskived surface.

The invention relates, among other things, to a method of making a thin panel (10) for outdoor applications, comprising, among other things, the following steps: a) providing a deep-drawable film (10) of a transparent plastic, b) deep-drawing the film (11) in a mold (34), c) mounting a structure (19) having solar cells (32) on an inner face (16) of the deep-drawn film (12), d) placing the deep-drawn film (12) with mounted structure (19) in a cavity (33) of a mold (34) having in particular at least two mold halves (13, 14), e) introducing a liquid polyurethane casting compound (24) into the cavity (33) of the mold (34) and spreading the polyurethane casting compound (24) over an inner face (18) of the structure (19) and/or over the inner face (16) of the film (12), f) curing the polyurethane casting compound, in particular with the mold closed, to form a reinforcement layer (30), or comprising the following steps j) and k) instead of the steps e) and f): j) introducing a granular particle foam mass into the cavity (33) of the mold (34) and spreading over an inner face (18) of the structure (19) and/or over the inner face (16) of the film (12), k) baking and curing the particle foam mass, in particular with the mold closed, to form a reinforcement layer (30).

An expansion device, including: an installation unit in which a thermally expandable sheet is disposed; an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the thermally expandable sheet placed on the installation unit with light; and a control unit configured to perform processes described below, wherein after an expansion process to expand the thermally expandable sheet by irradiating the thermally expandable sheet placed on the installation unit with light by the irradiation unit, a cooling process to cool the thermally expandable sheet by a predetermined cooling unit while maintaining the state in which the thermally expandable sheet is placed on the installation unit.

An expansion device, including: an installation unit in which a thermally expandable sheet is disposed; an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the thermally expandable sheet placed on the installation unit with light; and a control unit configured to perform processes described below, wherein after an expansion process to expand the thermally expandable sheet by irradiating the thermally expandable sheet placed on the installation unit with light by the irradiation unit, a cooling process to cool the thermally expandable sheet by a predetermined cooling unit while maintaining the state in which the thermally expandable sheet is placed on the installation unit.

A perforated expanded low density polyethylene foam layer, wherein in the expanded low density polyethylene layer at least 80% of the blowing agents are dissipated from closed cells within the expanded low density polyethylene layer forming evacuated closed cells whereby a partial vacuum is formed within the closed cells of the low density polyethylene layer.