A process for manufacturing a urethane foam pad comprising the steps of: providing a urethane resin and a filler agent; mixing a predetermined amount of the filler agent with the urethane resin to create a urethane mixture within a mold container; drawing a vacuum on the urethane mixture; allowing the urethane mixture to expand and gel for a predetermined amount of time to form an expanded urethane foam pad; releasing the vacuum on the urethane mixture; and removing the expanded urethane foam pad from the mold container.

A composition for producing a sheet material with a cellular structure, the composition including the following components: (a) about 5 to about 25 weight % gelatine, (b) about 25 to 60 weight % filler material, (c) about 15 to about 40 weight % water, and (d) a cellular structure promoting agent.

A solar collector is provided. The collector comprises a monolithic flow control component to direct a flow of the heat transfer fluid between an inlet and outlet; and a solar absorber supported by the monolithic flow control component. The monolithic flow control component is able to support the solar absorber without any additional structural components to lend mechanical strength to the monolithic flow control component.

In a method for producing an insulation arrangement for a functional compartment of a household appliance, a plastic material is foamed to form a foam block. The foam block is divided into blanks and each blank is shaped with a forming press to form an insulation arrangement.

The invention relates, among other things, to a method of making a thin panel (10) for outdoor applications, comprising, among other things, the following steps: a) providing a deep-drawable film (10) of a transparent plastic, b) deep-drawing the film (11) in a mold (34), c) mounting a structure (19) having solar cells (32) on an inner face (16) of the deep-drawn film (12), d) placing the deep-drawn film (12) with mounted structure (19) in a cavity (33) of a mold (34) having in particular at least two mold halves (13, 14), e) introducing a liquid polyurethane casting compound (24) into the cavity (33) of the mold (34) and spreading the polyurethane casting compound (24) over an inner face (18) of the structure (19) and/or over the inner face (16) of the film (12), f) curing the polyurethane casting compound, in particular with the mold closed, to form a reinforcement layer (30), or comprising the following steps j) and k) instead of the steps e) and f): j) introducing a granular particle foam mass into the cavity (33) of the mold (34) and spreading over an inner face (18) of the structure (19) and/or over the inner face (16) of the film (12), k) baking and curing the particle foam mass, in particular with the mold closed, to form a reinforcement layer (30).

A thermoset foam comprises from 0.2 to 4.0 wt. % of at least one aliphatic brominated polyether polyol, from 2.0 to 7.0 wt. % of at least one aromatic brominated polyester polyol, and from 2.0 to 7.5 wt. % of at least one flame retardant comprising organo-phosphate, organo-phosphonate, or organo-phosphite, wherein the ratio of the amount of aliphatic bromine expressed as a percentage of total bromine to the amount of aromatic bromine expressed as a percentage of total bromine is from 10:90 to 50:50.

The invention relates to a contoured structural element (100) for use as a core layer in a curved sandwich composite element, the contoured structural element (100) being formed from a thermoplastic foam, in particular PET, the contoured structural element (100) being subdivided, except for a connecting layer (12), into a plurality of body elements (10), and the body elements (10) and the connecting layer (12) being aligned parallel to a base area (26) of the contoured structural element (100) which is in a planar state. According to the invention, at least one surface layer (16) of the connecting layer (12) and the adjoining surface layer (18) of the body elements (10) at least partly have a thermally densified layer (14); the body elements (10), the connecting layer (12) and the thermally densified layer (14) being made of the same material.

A building panel has a deep drawn transparent film having an inner face and a structure having solar cells on the inner face of the deep-drawn film. The structure has an inner face turned away from the film and an outer face on or closely juxtaposed with the inner face of the film. A reinforcement layer constituted as a mass of foamed granular particles is spread over the inner face of the structure in direct contact with the inner face of the structure without the interposition of an adhesive and is heat cured to the film.

A method of manufacturing a multi-hardness and multi-elasticity foam mattress in which a plurality of foam blocks are formed integrally with each other by use of a continuous foaming process the method comprising the steps of: arranging a plurality of nozzles above one end of a molding plate; installing a separation wall between two adjacent ones of the respective nozzles arranged at the molding plate; laminating a release paper on the top of the molding plate; spraying foaming solutions from the nozzles, respectively, wherein the release paper moves in a direction toward the other end of the molding plate corresponding to a moving speed of the foaming solution; and molding a foam body having a plurality of zones where a plurality of unit foam blocks have multi-hardnesses and multi-elasticities.

A vehicle interior component including a plurality of functional parts and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A headliner which is a vehicle interior component includes a sheet-like core member formed of a urethane foam. The headliner has a plurality of functional parts with different functions set in a plane of the headliner. The core member has an in-plane distribution of a characteristic of the urethane foam varied corresponding to the plurality of functional parts.