Process and station (99) for forming a thermoplastic material, the process comprising: making a semi-finished product (10) in the thermoplastic material, the semi-finished product (10) being air permeable; closing a mould (90) with the semifinished product (10) interposed between the conformation surfaces (3, 4) for compressing the semifinished product (10) between the conformation surfaces (3, 4); heating the mould (90) for heating the semi-finished product (10), subsequentlyopening the mould (90); with the semi-finished product (10) coupled to a second half-mould (2) of the mould (90), contacting a free surface of the semi-finished product (10) with a coupling surface (80) of a catching device (71); generating an air flow (200) which passes through the coupling surface (80) in a distributed way, the air flow being directed from the semi-finished product (10) to the coupling surface (80), for constraining the semi-finished product (10) to the catching device (71); while keeping the airflow (200), removing the semi-finished product (10) from the mould (90) by movement of the catching device (71); interrupting the air flow (200) for releasing the semi-finished product (10) from the catching device (71) and obtaining a finished article.

A method and apparatus for making pouches is disclosed. It includes using one or more of the following features: using two servo motors to drive a platen, providing a calibration routine is run at start-up and/or after the machine has been operating; controlling in response to feed back from the servo motor(s) such as feedback indicative of the distance the platen travels; the feedback is not of force exerted by the platen; and/or the platen is controlled to prevent unacceptable fracturing of the film laminate.

Provided is a fabric for producing a foam part, comprising: a non-woven fabric sheet comprising: a first metallic pattern printed on a first surface of the non-woven fabric sheet; wherein the first metallic pattern comprises a plurality of pattern elements having a predetermined optimal distance therebetween; wherein the metallic pattern comprises a print paste and a metallic powder; wherein the non-woven fabric sheet is structured to be positioned in a mold for producing the foam part such that the first metallic pattern of the non-woven fabric sheet is operatively coupled with a magnet element of a first mold half of the mold.

A three-dimensional netted structure having an upper surface, a lower surface, two side surfaces a left end surface, and a right end surface, including at least a plurality of filaments helically and randomly entangled and thermally bonded together, wherein the filaments are formed out of a thermoplastic resin by extrusion molding followed by cooling with a liquid; and the netted structure is four-surface molded, the upper surface, the lower surface and the two side surfaces being molded. An apparatus and a method for manufacturing the three-dimensional netted structure.

The invention is directed to a core material, suitable for use in a closed mold system, based on at least one fibrous web containing a foam-structure within the web, said foam-structure being formed of a plurality of members that are separated from each other by channels, wherein said core material has a compression-resistance of greater than 40% at a pressure of 4 bar and at a temperature that is greater than or equal to 80 C.

There is provided a shaped product made of a fiber-reinforced composite material including reinforcing fibers having an average fiber length of 5 to 100 mm and a thermoplastic resin. In the shaped product, a volume fraction of reinforcing fibers is 5 to 80%, a reference plane (S) and a standing plane (B) inclined at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees with respect to the reference plane are included, a ratio of an area of the standing plane (B) to an area of the reference plane (S) is 0.5 to 100, and in the fiber-reinforced composite material constituting the shaped product, a ratio of a reinforcing fiber bundle (A) including the reinforcing fibers of a critical number of single fiber or more to the total amount of the reinforcing fibers is 20 Vol % or more and 99 Vol % or less.

A high-quality multilayer thermoplastic-resin-reinforced sheet material having excellent mechanical properties and drapeability in which a thermoplastic resin excellent in recycling efficiency and shock resistance is used as a matrix. A thermoplastic-resin multilayer reinforced molding formed of the multilayer thermoplastic-resin-reinforced sheet material, in which the high quality and the mechanical properties are maintained. The multilayer thermoplastic-resin-reinforced sheet material (11) is formed by stacking thermoplastic-resin-reinforced sheet materials (21A) to (21D) each formed of a reinforcing-fiber sheet material (31), consisting of a plurality of reinforcing fibers (31f) arranged in a predetermined direction in a sheet-like structure, and a thermoplastic-resin sheet material (41) joined to a surface of the reinforcing-fiber sheet material (31), and stitching them together with an integration thermoplastic-resin fiber tow (51) composed of the same material as the thermoplastic-resin sheet material (41). The reinforcing-fiber sheet materials (31) are stacked such that their reinforcing directions are multiaxial.

Provided is a shoe that includes: a bottom surface that is adjacent to the ground in normal use; a sole that forms at least a portion of the bottom surface; an upper portion extending above the sole; and individual particles bonded to the bottom surface of the shoe. The individual particles include at least one of corn husk, hemp or a natural plant material that has been ground into the individual particles.

A luggage shell or case made from a sheet formed by compacting and heating a mat made of either a mixture of randomly oriented first discontinuous non-woven plastic fibers (42) having a first melting temperature and randomly oriented second discontinuous reinforcing non-woven plastic fiber (46) having a second melting temperature higher than the first melting temperature, or a bicomponent fiber having a first plastic portion having a first melting temperature and a second plastic portion having a second melting temperature. The non-woven mat is heated at a temperature between the first melting temperature and the second melting temperature, as well as by forming the compacted non-woven sheet (64) into the luggage shell.

A construct for a hockey blade that includes a foam core. The foam core includes a first core face, a second core face, and a core edge. A first layer of resin preimpregnated tape is wrapped continuously around the first core face, the core edge and the second core face. A thread is stitched along the first layer of preimpregnated tape. A second layer of resin preimpregnated tape wrapped continuously around the first layer of resin preimpregnated tape.