A hose includes an outer cover layer and at least one ply disposed inward from the outer cover layer, characterized in that the outer cover layer is a shrink sleeve, and where the at least one ply is formed from a reinforced silicone rubber sheet which includes a reinforcement. The hose may further include an inner layer disposed within the at least one ply, and which defines a lumen. The shrink sleeve may be a polyolefin shrink sleeve. The layers are tensioned together with the shrink sleeve. The hose may be prepared by a shrink tension method without the use of a tape wrap. A method of preparing the above hose may include wrapping the inner layer around a mandrel, wrapping the at least one at least one ply around the inner layer, pulling the shrink sleeve over the at least one at least one ply, and vulcanizing the hose.

What is provided is a heat-shrinkable film and a heat-shrinkable label that, when applied to a container in which the difference between the diameter of the body portion and the diameter of the mouth portion is large, sufficiently shrink in the mouth portion and do not easily allow the generation of a wrinkle or a sink mark in the mouth portion. The heat-shrinkable film contains polyester, a dicarboxylic acid component that constitutes the polyester contains 95 mol % or more of terephthalic acid, and a diol component that constitutes the polyester contains 50 mol % or more of ethylene glycol and 15 mol % or more of cyclohexanedimethanol. The shrinkage rate in the primary shrinkage direction when the heat-shrinkable film is immersed in hot water at 70 C. for 30 seconds is 20% or less, the shrinkage rate in the primary shrinkage direction when the heat-shrinkable film is immersed in hot water at 80 C. for 30 seconds is 45% to 65%, and the shrinkage rate in the primary shrinkage direction when the heat-shrinkable film is immersed in hot water at 98 C. for 30 seconds is 65% or more.

An electronic core for a metal card, such as a transaction card, having a metal core and a cured polymer top surface, is manufactured by a process in which a two-part polymer mixture is introduced to a reservoir holding the metal core in a process chamber, and then a partial vacuum followed by pressurization with inert gas are used to reduce the volume of voids in the partially-cured polymer mixture, followed by curing outside of the process chamber, and then the top surface is removed by a treatment operation, such as milling or etching, to form a reduced upper surface with less surface irregularities which is more substantially plan the original top surface.

A method for producing the fluororesin tube, the method including a step of subjecting a thermoplastic fluororesin to melt extrusion molding at a temperature of about 260 to 450 C., wherein the thermoplastic fluororesin is selected from the group consisting of a tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer and a tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer, wherein in the melt extrusion molding, a flow path of the molten thermoplastic fluororesin is temporarily branched to form a weld line in a lengthwise direction in the fluororesin tube. In some cases, the fluororesin tube has tearing property in a lengthwise direction and the method includes subjecting the thermoplastic fluororesin, a filler and/or a contrast agent to the melt extrusion molding.