A method for producing a stabilized lignin fiber from softwood alkaline lignin by heat treatment in the absence of oxidant is disclosed. The stabilized lignin fiber can be further treated to obtain carbon fiber.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) melting polymer (e.g., derived from post-consumer PET bottles) to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (3) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars; (4) allowing the multiple streams of polymer melt to fall into a receiving section of a melt processing unit; (5) recombining the multiple streams of polymer melt into a second single stream of polymer melt; and (6) providing the second single stream of polymer melt to one or more spinning machines that are configured to form the second single stream of polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of a fluid mold material comprising: a manifold, an actuator interconnected to a valve pin, a position sensor that senses position of the valve pin, a controller that controls movement of the actuator according to instructions that instruct the actuator to drive the valve pin upstream at one or more selected intermediate velocities in response to receipt by the controller of a signal from the position sensor that the valve pin is disposed in the one or more intermediate upstream gate open positions.

A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, which includes providing a part material that compositionally has one or more semi-crystalline polymers and one or more secondary materials that are configured to retard crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers, where the one or more secondary materials are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polymers. The method also includes melting the part material in the additive manufacturing system, forming at least a portion of a layer of the three-dimensional part from the melted part material in a build environment, and maintaining the build environment at an annealing temperature that is between a glass transition temperature of the part material and a cold crystallization temperature of the part material.

The present invention refers to an injection molding nozzle for introducing a molten plastic to a mold cavity (15) of an injection molding tool via a slot gate (2, 2, 3). The injection molding nozzle includes a nozzle core (2, 3, 3) having an elongate edge (3B) and is received in an opening (1A, 1) in a housing (1, 1). A portion of the nozzle core (2, 3, 3) is spaced apart from the housing (1, 1) so as to define a nozzle flow channel that is in fluid communication between a source of the molten plastic and the slot gate (2, 2, 3), and at least a downstream portion of the nozzle flow channel that is between the housing (1, 1) and the nozzle core (2, 3, 3) surrounds the nozzle core (2, 3, 3) on all sides.

A wearable container containing a composite which has an alternating pattern containing groupings of woven fabric and groupings of biaxially oriented thermoplastic films. The composite has a thickness of less than about 5 mm. Each grouping of woven fabric contains at least one woven fabric layer, each woven fabric layer containing tape elements having a base layer of a strain oriented olefin polymer disposed between covering layers of a heat fusible olefin polymer. Each grouping of biaxially oriented thermoplastic films contain at least one biaxially oriented thermoplastic film which has a core layer of thermoplastic disposed between covering layers of a thermoplastic able to bond to polypropylene.

Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) melting polymer (e.g., derived from post-consumer PET bottles) to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (3) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars; (4) allowing the multiple streams of polymer melt to fall into a receiving section of a melt processing unit; (5) recombining the multiple streams of polymer melt into a second single stream of polymer melt; and (6) providing the second single stream of polymer melt to one or more spinning machines that are configured to form the second single stream of polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

In the formation of a solid object by progressively adding extruded materials to a workpiece, a mechanism is disclosed for transposing the paths by which two or more extrusion nozzles travel to deposit materials. Paralleling a surface contour of the object being formed, the paths for two or more substantially continuous extruded traces are directed in complementary fashion to cause a first extrusion trace to form the object surface while a second extrusion trace is deposited behind the first trace. At another position along the surface contour, the paths of the extruded traces may cross over one another to allow the second extruded trace to define the object surface. Where the first and second traces have a different color or visual appearance, the disclosed mechanism enables fine graphic features to efficiently be integrated into the surface of the object being formed.

A melting device includes a container capable of melting a material supplied in a free-flowing state and storing the material in a liquid state. The container includes a first storage section for storing the material in the free-flowing state, a second storage section for storing the material in the liquid state, and a dividing section provided between the first storage section and the second storage section and configured to hold back the material, when the material is in a non-molten or free-flowing state and to allow passage of the material from the first storage section into the second storage section, when the material is in a molten or liquid state.