A heat-sealing apparatus for forming a composite heat seal structure, includes a belt conveying, heating and press bonding portion configured to convey and heat a heat seal material to form a band-shaped peelable seal, and a die roll press bonding portion configured to add a linear peelable seal to the band-shaped peelable seal in a longitudinal direction of the band-shaped peelable seal for forming the composite heat seal structure.

A protective packaging formation device is disclosed herein. The device includes an inflation assembly that directs fluid between first and second overlapping plies of a web material. The device also includes a sealing mechanism that includes an arcuate web-support surface. The web-support surface includes a heater that defines a heating zone that is operable to heat the plies to create a longitudinal heat seal that seals the first and second plies together as the web is driven over the heating zone in a downstream direction. The web-support surface also includes a cooling zone disposed downstream of the heating zone operable to allow the heated plies to cool at the longitudinal heat seal as the web is driven over the heating zone in a downstream direction, such that the cooled longitudinal heat seal retains the fluid between the plies.

The present disclosure is concerned with a method of forming a seal with a polyethylene based film structure. The polyethylene based film structure has at least one layer formed with an oriented polyethylene having a predetermined melting temperature (T.sub.m). A conductive heat sealing device provides heat to form the seal, where a first sealing bar of the conductive heat sealing device operates at a first operating temperature of at least 10 degrees Celsius (° C.) below the T.sub.m of the oriented polyethylene in the polyethylene based film structure and a second sealing bar of the conductive heat sealing device operates at a second operating temperature of at least 15° C. higher than the operating temperature of the first sealing bar. The seal formed with the polyethylene based film structure retains at least 99 percent of its original surface area prior to forming the seal.

A welding process of an inflatable product is provided that includes using isolating members between first and second portions of weldable tensioning members to resist the first and second portions of the weldable tensioning structures being welded together during welding of the first portions to a first sheet of weldable material and welding of the second portions to a second sheet of weldable material.

An impulse welding bar (10) for welding plastics films is provided with a detachable non-stick coating (20) which is held on lateral flanks (24) of the impulse welding bar (10). In order to facilitate the replacement of a worn non-stick coating (20), retaining elements (22) are provided which are made of two or more parts and which act in a form-fitting manner in order to detachably fasten the non-stick coating (20) to both flanks (24) of the impulse welding bar (10), wherein first parts (26) of the retaining elements (22) are arranged on the flanks (24) of the impulse welding bar (10) and second parts (36) of the retaining elements (22) are arranged on the non-stick coating (20).

A welder for constructing and welding plastic fenestration structures, including parts storage bins structured to store and support parts to be assembled to create the plastic fenestration structures; wheels that receive the parts from the parts storage bins; aligners that position the parts relative to one another; heating plates that apply heat to ends of the parts thereby rendering at least a portion of the ends of the parts molten; parts shifters operably shiftable between a first position adjacent the wheels and a second position remotely located from the wheels that shift the parts to a fusing position in which adjacent parts are abutted together at a fusing station to produce the plastic fenestration structure; and at least one cooling station at which the plastic fenestration structure is held.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to manufacturing a balloon envelope for use in a stratospheric balloon system. For instance, a stream of polyethylene mixture us extruded through an extruder in order to orient molecules of polymer chains of polyethylene and to provide an oriented film. The oriented film is passed through an electron beam and thereby crosslinking the polymer chains to provide a cross-linked film. The cross-linked film is heat sealed to form the balloon envelope.

An inflatable cellular cushioning article has a plurality of inflatable chambers with each chamber comprising a plurality of inflatable cells connected in series with one another by connecting channels. The article is made from a first multilayer film sealed to itself or to a second film. The first film comprises a plurality of microlayers. At least 50 percent of the microlayers comprise a polymer selected from the group consisting of ethylene homopolymer, ethylene copolymer, propylene homopolymer, and propylene copolymer.

The present disclosure is directed to a compression belt for inflation and sealing devices. The device may include an inflation assembly, a heating assembly, and a drive mechanism. The inflation assembly may direct fluid between first and second overlapping plies of a flexible web material to inflate chambers between the plies. The heating assembly may be operable to heat the first and second plies of the web material to create a longitudinal heat seal that seals the fluid in the inflated chambers. The drive mechanism may drive the web material in a downstream direction. The drive mechanism may tension the web material against the heating assembly. The drive mechanism may include a first belt including a high grip material on a surface that contacts the web material to grip the web material during heating by the heating assembly.

A welding process of an inflatable product is provided that includes using isolating members between first and second portions of weldable tensioning members to resist the first and second portions of the weldable tensioning structures being welded together during welding of the first portions to a first sheet of weldable material and welding of the second portions to a second sheet of weldable material.