A material deposition system for additive manufacturing including an extruder that defines a first input passage for supplying a first material, a second input passage for supplying a second material, a chamber for combining the first and second materials to form a combined deposition material, and an extrusion port for extruding the combined deposition material. The system further includes an adjustable sleeve that is movable between a first position and a second position to vary the interaction between the first material and the second material in the chamber. For example, the adjustable sleeve may be configured to separate the first and second materials in the chamber, and can vary the point at which the materials interface with each other prior to deposition based on the sleeve position. Such a system may enable a varying degree of infiltration, encapsulation, or other interaction between the first and second materials prior to deposition.

Provided are a liquid crystal polymer film including a liquid crystal polymer, in which a melting point is 315° C. or higher and a number-average molecular weight is 13,000 or more and 150,000 or less; a flexible copper-clad laminated board; and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal polymer film.

A method of forming a film (1) of molten polymer material, by extruding said material in a direction (2) out of a narrow exit slot (3), which is an integral part of a wider die chamber (4) of which the major dimension of extension is parallel with the major dimension of the exit slot (3), characterized in that the molten polymer material is formed into one or more flows generally parallel with said major dimension of the exit slot (3), each said flow being pumped in a re-circulating arrangement from the chamber inlet (7) to the outlet (8) through conduits connecting the inlet to the outlet, while fresh molten polymer material is administered from a reservoir into each re-circulating flow.

An apparatus (31) for correcting the bending of the molten resin includes a temperature-adjusting device (32) arranged surrounding an extrusion passage (12) for extruding the molten resin (8) of an extrusion die head (7) along the direction of extruding the molten resin (8), a measuring means (33) for measuring the horizontal position of the molten resin (8) extruded from an extrusion opening (20) of the extrusion passage (12), and a control means (34) for controlling the temperature-adjusting device (32) based on the results measured by the measuring means (33).

A system for controlling the temperature of a film before and/or during application, the system including: a heat source for heating a film; and stretch rollers; wherein the heat source heats the film from an ambient temperature to a temperature from about 2° C. to about 40° C. above the ambient temperature, wherein the film is heated prior to or simultaneous to being stretched by the stretch rollers, and wherein the ambient temperature is below 15° C. A system for improving the application of film by transfer of electrostatic charge is also described. The preheating system and/or electrostatic charge system may be used to enhance binding and sealing properties of stretch films used for wrapping palletized products in a reduced temperature environment. Other embodiments of the preheating film system and electrostatic charge system, and methods for their use, are described herein.

Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. The finished straws may be soil- and marine-biodegradable, as well as home- and industrial-compostable.

The present invention relates to a low-gloss heat-resistant ABS resin composition and its preparation method. The low-gloss heat-resistant ABS resin composition includes following components by weight: 100 parts of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin, 5-30 parts of heat-resistant agent, 1-5 parts of matte masterbatch D, 0.2-1.0 parts of light stabilizer, and 0.5-2.0 parts of other additives. The preparation method includes steps of: stirring and fully mixing the above-mentioned raw materials in a high-speed mixer, and then feeding the raw materials into a twin-screw extruder through a metering device; melting and compounding the materials under the conveying, shearing and mixing of the screws, and then extruding, pulling, cooling and granulating, and finally obtaining the low-gloss heat-resistant ABS resin composition. The resin composition provided by the present invention not only has excellent mechanical properties, but also has an ultra-low gloss; therefore, it is very suitable for use in the field of automotive interior parts.

In-line inspection and control system to in-situ monitor an extrudate during extrusion. A light beam illuminates a line on the outside circumference of the extrudate skin recording the curvature. A master profile of the illuminated defect-free skin is recorded and compared to successive monitoring of the illuminated skin. Differences from the comparison indicate skin and/or shape defects. A real-time feedback to automatically adjust process control hardware reduces or eliminates the skin and shape defects based on the monitoring and comparison.

An improved rotary head extruder has at least one rotatable auger disposed within a single barrel and having an upstream end and a downstream end. The extruder has a die assembly that includes (i) a stator having a stator head at the downstream end of the at least one rotatable auger and a stationary plate surrounding an outlet end of the stator downstream from the single barrel and (ii) a rotatable plate downstream and spaced apart from the stationary plate to define a die gap. The apparatus includes a heating mechanism to maintain, within a predefined temperature range, one or more of the temperature of the die assembly or an extrudable composition disposed in the die gap.

A method of making a mesh cushion. The method includes extruding a material through a plurality of filament forming openings in at least one die plate to form a plurality of filaments. The filaments may be at least partially submerged into a fluid to cool and harden the filaments into the mesh cushion.