There is disclosed an apparatus for winding filaments to form a structure. The apparatus includes a carrier which mounts spools of fiber, a mandrel, and a guide element which directs fiber tows, comprising filaments from the spools, onto the mandrel. The system further includes a heating element which applies heat to the fiber tows, and a diaphragm element which defines an orifice about the mandrel. The diaphragm element includes one or more displaceable portions which define a physical dimension of the orifice and which: displace to vary the physical dimension of the orifice; and apply a predetermined pressure to the fiber tows disposed on the mandrel. Also disclosed and described is a related method.

Multi-ply, hybrid composite materials useful in the formation of thin walled, hollow, tubular articles having improved resistance to hoop stress. Two different, single-ply pre-pregs are impregnated with binders and laminated together with the fibers of the layers oriented at a bias relative to each other. The hybrid composite is rolled into a tubular article having excellent strength uniformity along the full length of the tubular article.

A biaxially stretched polypropylene film which has a thickness of from 1.0 ?m to 3.5 ?m, a tensile fracture stress at 135? C. of 70 MPa or more in a first direction, and a difference between the tensile fracture stress at 125? C. in the first direction and the tensile fracture stress at 135? C. in the first direction of from 0 MPa to 15 MPa (inclusive).

A system for manufacturing a catheter includes at least first and second controllable rate material feeders that feed at least first and second materials into a temperature-controlled mixer to form a compound material that varies in flexibility and/or strength with the respective first and second materials and material feed rates. An extruder extrudes the compound material onto a rotating and translating mandrel to thereby form a variable stiffness profile along a length of the catheter that depends on respective rates of rotation and translation of the mandrel.

A paint roller manufacturing system and method are described. In an embodiment, an inner strip of material and an outer strip of material are wound about a mandrel in offset relation. The inner strip of material and the outer strip of material each comprise material that results in a final paint roller which shrinks by less than 2.5 percent of the final paint roller axial length, or which has shrinkage that varies by less +/0.1%, upon hardening and setting. An adhesive is applied to at least a portion of the outer strip as it is wound about the mandrel. A length of fabric is wound about at least the outer strip to form a paint roller tube, and compression is applied to the paint roller tube while advancing the paint roller tube in a direction parallel to the mandrel. A precision measuring or sensing device is used to control a cutting device causing the cutting device to cut the advancing paint roller tube into pre-selected lengths prior to the paint roller tube hardening and setting.

A method of manufacturing a connector for a fluid transfer conduit comprises: manufacturing a tube which runs parallel to a central axis C from fibre-reinforced polymer, said tube comprising a hub portion 206 and a flange-forming portion 208 located adjacent to the hub portion 206, wherein the hub portion 206 comprises continuous circumferentially oriented fibre-reinforcement 210; and the hub portion 206 and the flange-forming portion 208 comprise longitudinally oriented fibre-reinforcement 212 which runs continuously from the hub portion 206 into the flange-forming portion 208; and bending the flange-forming portion 208 away from the central axis C such that it extends from the hub portion 206 at an angle to the central axis C.

A method of manufacturing a composite (e.g. fibre-reinforced polymer) connector for a fluid transfer conduit includes: manufacturing a continuous fibre pre-form net 150 that is shaped to comprise a hub-forming portion 156 and a flange-forming portion 158, the continuous fibre pre-form net comprising continuous fibre reinforcement 110 and a common support layer 151 to which the continuous fibre reinforcement 110 is secured by being stitched thereto; placing the continuous fibre pre-form net 150 into a mould, the mould being shaped such that the hub-forming portion 156 forms a tubular hub portion which extends along a central axis and the flange-forming portion 158 forms a flange portion which extends from the hub portion at an angle to the central axis; and introducing polymer into the mould so as to form a composite connector comprising the flange portion and the hub portion.

A method for producing a liner hose (2) for lining pipelines, comprising the method steps of moving a circumferentially closed inner film hose (4) over a winding mandrel (6) of a winding apparatus (8) and wrapping the inner film hose (4), which is guided on the winding mandrel (6) by means of a guide mechanism (18), with a fibrous strip (12) which has been impregnated with curable reaction resin, is characterized in that the inner film hose (4) is guided via endless pulling means (14) that circulate without a drive, and in that the inner film hose (4) that has been wrapped with the fibrous strip (12) is moved off of the winding mandrel (6) solely by a pull-off mechanism (16) which acts from the outside on the fibrous strip (12). The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the method.

Plastic pipes and a continuous production device and method for a glass fiber reinforced tape polyethylene composite pipe is provided. The main structure of the production device includes a first extruder, an inner pipe die, a vacuum sizing box, a first cooling spray box, a first tractor, a first winding machine, a first heater, a second winding machine, a second heater, an automatic tape replacing manipulator, an outer pipe extruder, an outer pipe extrusion die, an outer pipe cooling shaping die, a second cooling spray box, a second tractor, a meter counter, a fixed length cutting machine and finished pipe racks. The process of the production method totally includes four steps: inner pipe extrusion molding, continuous winding of the composite tape, outer pipe extrusion cladding, and cutting and warehousing, thus realizing the continuous on-line production of the glass fiber reinforced tape polyethylene composite pipe.

An apparatus for manufacturing an insulating pipe section includes a rotatable longitudinal mandrel configured for receiving and winding uncured mineral wool around the mandrel to manufacture an insulating pipe section, a belt, preferably an endless belt, at least two longitudinal jaws engaging the belt, wherein the jaws are configured for surrounding the mandrel with the belt, and a mandrel controlling element configured for actively controlling a transverse movement of the mandrel.