A rubber composition for vulcanization molding which can be manufactured into a rubber product with good dimensional stability, good appearance and sufficiently light weight, a process for manufacturing the same, and applications thereof. A rubber composition for vulcanization molding containing hollow particles and a base rubber, wherein the hollow particles are composed of a thermoplastic resin shell and a thermally vaporizable blowing agent encapsulated therein and have a specified further expansion ratio, and the base rubber has a Mooney viscosity ML (1+4) ranging from 5 to 90 at 100 C. Also disclosed is a process for manufacturing the rubber composition, hollow particles used for manufacturing the rubber composition, a masterbatch including the hollow particles and a rubber product manufactured from the rubber composition.

A production method for a fiber-reinforced resin molded object is provided whereby a large apparatus is not used when molding, by heating and pressing, a fiber-reinforced resin base material that includes a matrix resin, a molded object with excellent precision and quality can be obtained, and for which work is simple.

The production method includes arranging, on an inner surface of a lower mold 3, a fiber-reinforced resin base material 1 obtained by impregnating a matrix resin into reinforcing fibers; filling a core space 5 of the mold, in which the fiber-reinforced resin base material 1 is arranged, with a powder mixture 2a that has liquidity and that includes thermally expandable microcapsules and another powder; sealing the lower mold 3 and an upper mold 4; heating at from a heat expansion starting temperature to a maximum expansion temperature of the thermally expandable microcapsules to cause the thermally expandable microcapsules to expand; and pressing the fiber-reinforced resin base material 1 against the inner surface of the lower mold 3 to produce a molded object.

There is provided a vehicle seat core member that is superior in terms of a dimensional accuracy as well as integrity of a thermoplastic resin expanded beads molded body and a frame member. A vehicle seat core member (100) is formed as an integrally molded article of a thermoplastic resin expanded beads molded body (10) and a frame member (20), the thermoplastic resin expanded beads molded body (10) is formed of thermoplastic resin expanded beads (30) having through holes (32), and a porosity of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads molded body (10) is 10 vol % or more and 40 vol % or less.

The present disclosure provides a plant fiber textile, a laminate with the plant fiber textile and a fabricating method of the laminate. The plant fiber textile has a matrix resin and continuous plant fibers distributed within the matrix resin. The plant fibers are subjected to a surface modification pretreatment including a coupling treatment with a coupling agent and/or a fire retardation treatment with a fire retardant. The laminate has a stack structure including a layer of the plant fiber textile and at least one layer selected from a group consisting of following layers: glass fiber, aramid fiber or carbon fiber non-woven cloth or textile, preferably distributed within the matrix resin; polymer fiber non-woven cloth or textile, preferably distributed within the matrix resin; or polymer foam or rubber material.

Systems and methods are provided for utilizing pellet-loaded bladders to consolidate and/or harden composite parts. One embodiment is a method for fabricating a composite part. The method includes laying up a preform that is made of fiber reinforced material and that includes a cavity, inserting one or more bladders that are loaded with expandable pellets into the cavity, inflating the bladders in response to a triggering condition, consolidating the preform while the bladders are inflated, deflating the bladders, and removing the bladders from the cavity.

A therapeutic, fitness, and sports enhancement device which includes a cylindrically shaped body having a predetermined density and predetermined diameter, the body including a plurality of projections of a predetermined shape. One or more of the predetermined density and the predetermined diameter in combination with the predetermined shape of the projections optimize mobilization of soft tissue structures of the human body.

An expansion apparatus includes: a first expander for irradiating with electromagnetic waves emitted from a lamp a thermal conversion layer for conversion of the electromagnetic waves to heat, to cause at least a portion of a thermal expansion layer to expand, the thermal conversion layer being laminated to a molding sheet including a base and the thermal expansion layer laminated to a first main surface of the base; and a second expander for causing expansion of a region (C) of the thermal expansion layer that is smaller in size than a region (B) of the thermal expansion layer expanded by the first expander.

A foamable polymeric mixture is provided that includes a polymer composition and at least one blowing agent. The blowing agent may comprise any blowing agents known not to deplete the ozone or increase the prevalence of global warming, such as CO.sub.2, HFO, HFC and mixtures thereof. The foamable polymeric mixture may further includes at least one processing aid comprising an organic phase changing material. The inventive foamable mixture is capable of processing at a pressure range of 800 to 1200 psi (5.5 to 8.3 MPa).

Provided is a method for producing a low specific gravity molded foam using a propylene-based polymer. The method includes: providing a foamable composition including a mixture of a propylene-based polymer and thermally expandable microspheres; introducing the foamable composition into a mold for producing a molded foam; raising the temperature of the foamable composition to at least the expansion start temperature (T.sub.start) of the thermally expandable microspheres to expand the foamable composition in the mold; forming a molded foam in a state in which the foamable composition is expanded to fill the mold; and releasing the molded foam from the mold.

A mold for in-mold foam-molding of a polyolefin-based resin for producing a molded article includes a first mold part, a second mold part, and a divided mold that holds an insert material, wherein the insert material has a protrusion part, the divided mold is formed on the first and the second mold parts in correspondence with the protrusion part of the insert material, the first mold part has a first holding surface, the second mold part has a divided mold member having a second holding surface and a biasing part that guides the divided mold member movably in the mold opening/closing direction and constantly biases the divided mold member toward the first holding surface, and the base portion of the protrusion part of the insert material is configured for being held between the first and second holding surfaces by the divided mold.