Methods for producing a flexible, fibrous ablator thermal protection material, for use in association with a space vehicle that passes through an atmosphere in which severe heating is experienced. A phenolic resin and/or a silicone resin can be used. The elastic modulus of the resulting material is low, in a preferred range of about 200-5000 kPa, and can be controlled by choice of a curing temperature and/or a time interval length for curing.

A free radical curable automotive body primer is provided that has a color change corresponding to the progress of the cure process until a dry to sand condition has been attained and an internal colored guide coat that does not change color given its exposure to ambient air and as a result, has a different color on the surface of the primer than when in bulk, allowing for the detection and removal of low spots or other imperfections from a vehicle body by additional sanding of the inventive primer to remove oxidized guide coat colorant surface regions. The cure color change is achieved through resort to at least one color changing dye that reacts with a free radical cure initiator during the vehicle body priming process and changes color to indicate when the primer composition has achieved a level of cure so as to be dry enough to sand.

Various embodiments provide epoxy modified fluorinated urethane compositions that may provide desirable bulk mechanical properties of conventional coatings, adhesives, or structural matrix resins, while simultaneously exhibiting surface properties that may reduce surface contamination. Various embodiments provide formulations comprising epoxy modified fluorinated alkyl ether including urethane oligomer or polymer resins that may possess the requisite thermal, mechanical, chemical, and optical properties while achieving a low surface energy. In various embodiments, such resins may be prepared from random urethane oligomer compositions including fluorinated alkyl ether segments, in which the oligomers may be terminated with amino groups and subsequently reacted with epoxy including monomers or oligomers.

Disclosed is a method for treating a grained material. A nonlimiting example of the method includes the operations of providing a workpiece having grains, exasperating a surface of the workpiece to open the grains, applying at least one coat of a base paint to the exasperated surface, applying at least one layer of clear coat on the base paint, applying at least one of a glaze and a paint on the clear coat, and surface treating to reveal grains of the workpiece. Disclosed also are items of furniture and sheet materials treated by the aforementioned process.

In accordance some aspects of the present application, there is provided a label assembly, a release liner and methods of preparing label assemblies and release liners. In one aspect, a label assembly includes a top layer having a front side and a back side and an adhesive applied at the back side of the top layer. The label assembly also includes a silicone-treated liner contacting the adhesive to sandwich the adhesive between the top layer and the liner. The silicone-treated liner comprises paper that does not have a machine finish or gloss finish on a side of the paper that contacts the adhesive to allow at least a portion of the silicone in the silicone treatment to penetrate the paper.

Improved aluminum can end stock (CES) is disclosed. The CES includes an adhered polymer coating exhibiting low feathering and high performance in various acid tests. The low feathering and resistance to acid tests is accomplished by incorporating a copolymer adhesion promoter film to an aluminum alloy before lamination. In some cases, the metal strip is pretreated with a conversion layer, which can include compounds of trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) and phosphates or titanium and zirconium.

An example device includes a nanovoided polymer element, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The nanovoided polymer element may be located at least in part between the first electrode and the second electrode. In some examples, the nanovoided polymer element may include anisotropic voids. In some examples, anisotropic voids may be elongated along one or more directions. In some examples, the anisotropic voids are configured so that a polymer wall thickness between neighboring voids is generally uniform. Example devices may include a spatially addressable electroactive device, such as an actuator or a sensor, and/or may include an optical element. A nanovoided polymer layer may include one or more polymer components, such as an electroactive polymer.

A form birefringent optical element includes a structured layer and a dielectric environment disposed over the structured layer. At least one of the structured layer and the dielectric environment includes a nanovoided polymer, the nanovoided polymer having a first refractive index in an unactuated state and a second refractive index different than the first refractive index in an actuated state. Actuation of the nanovoided polymer can be used to reversibly control the form birefringence of the optical element. Various other apparatuses, systems, materials, and methods are also disclosed.

An optical element includes a nanovoided polymer layer having a first refractive index in an unactuated state and a second refractive index different than the first refractive index in an actuated state. Compression or expansion of the nanovoided polymer layer, for instance, can be used to reversibly control the size and shape of the nanovoids within the polymer layer and hence tune its refractive index over a range of values, e.g., during operation of the optical element. Various other apparatuses, systems, materials, and methods are also disclosed.

Examples include a device including a nanovoided polymer element having a first surface and a second surface, a first plurality of electrodes disposed on the first surface, a second plurality of electrodes disposed on the second surface, and a control circuit configured to apply an electrical potential between one or more of the first plurality of electrodes and one or more of the second plurality of electrodes to induce a physical deformation of the nanovoided polymer element.