The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a three-dimensional product having uniform mechanical properties using an SLS 3D printer including the steps of: preparing a mixed powder material by mixing resin powder and glass bubbles, wherein the specific gravity of the glass bubbles is from about 0.8 to about 1.2 times that of the resin powder; supplying the mixed powder material to the 3D printer using a roller; and selectively sintering the mixed powder material by irradiating the powder material using a laser based on 3D data of the product to be manufactured.

The present invention relates to a process for producing thermoset moldings, to the thermoset moldings themselves, to the use of the thermoset moldings as components and to the use of a thermoplastic polymer having a porosity in the range from 10% to 90% for increasing the toughness of a thermoset.

A method for manufacturing plastic products using a 3D printer is provided, wherein the method may be configured for improving appearance quality by suppressing a sink mark and improving strength of a fastening structure, by firstly injection-molding a body of a plastic product using an injection molding method and secondly printing the fastening structure of the body using a 3D printer.

A moldable thermal insulation composite is provided. The composite includes a thermoset polymer, a curing agent, a thermal conductivity filler, and a physical blowing agent. The thermal conductivity filler includes a hollow-interior glass sphere (HGS) or porous-shell hollow-interior glass sphere (PHGS). The physical blowing agent includes an expandable thermoplastic microsphere (EMS). The thermal conductivity filler is present in the composite in an amount of 0.1 to 49.9 wt. %. The physical blowing agent is present in the composite in an amount of 0.1 to 49.9 wt. %. The thermal conductivity filler and the physical blowing agent are present in the composite in a combined amount of 20 to 50 wt. %. A method of manufacturing a thermal insulation composite is also provided.

A method for forming a vacuum insulated structure using a prepared core material includes preparing a powder insulation material defining a bulk density, pre-densifying the powder insulation material to form a pre-densified insulation base, crushing the pre-densified insulation base into granular core insulation to define a core density of the granular core insulation, disposing the granular core insulation having the core density into an insulating cavity defined within an insulating structure and expressing gas from the interior cavity of the insulating structure to further densify the granular core insulation to define a target density. The granular core insulation defines the target density disposed within the insulating structure defines the vacuum insulation structure, wherein the target density defines a density in the range of from approximately 80 grams per liter to approximately 350 grams per liter.

A method for forming a roll core for use in an electrophotographic image forming device according to one example embodiment includes shaping the roll core from a mixture of an uncured elastomer and hollow microparticles. The elastomer of the shaped roll core is cured without permanently expanding hollow microparticles positioned near the outer surface of the shaped roll core. After curing, the hollow microparticles positioned near the outer surface of the shaped roll core are permanently expanded to form the roll core having compressible and resiliently recoverable hollow microparticles extending beyond an outer circumference of the roll core and providing a surface texture to the roll core.

A thermoplastic composite structure is produced by extruding a bead of composite material to a desired cross sectional shape. An extruder extrudes the polymer bead containing reinforcing fibers, using a low compression first extruder stage where the polymer is mixed and de-gassed, and a high compression second stage where the polymer is consolidated and extruded. The cross sectional profile of the polymer bead may be altered using a variable extruder gate.

A thermoplastic composite structure is produced by extruding a bead of composite material to a desired cross sectional shape. An extruder extrudes the polymer bead containing reinforcing fibers, using a low compression first extruder stage where the polymer is mixed and de-gassed, and a high compression second stage where the polymer is consolidated and extruded. The cross sectional profile of the polymer bead may be altered using a variable extruder gate.

A method for forming a vacuum insulated structure using a prepared core material includes preparing a powder insulation material defining a bulk density, pre-densifying the powder insulation material to form a pre-densified insulation base, crushing the pre-densified insulation base into granular core insulation to define a core density of the granular core insulation, disposing the granular core insulation having the core density into an insulating cavity defined within an insulating structure and expressing gas from the interior cavity of the insulating structure to further densify the granular core insulation to define a target density. The granular core insulation defines the target density disposed within the insulating structure defines the vacuum insulation structure, wherein the target density defines a density in the range of from approximately 80 grams per liter to approximately 350 grams per liter.

A lightweight polymer-based composite product may include a polymer material body and a lightweight filler material that is embedded in the polymer. The polymer material body may be an in-situ polymerized polymer formed via casting of a reactive resin in a mold. The polymer may have a density of at least 1.0 g/cm.sup.3. The lightweight filler material may be concentrated on at least a portion of a first surface of the polymer material body. The lightweight filler material may have a density of between 0.1 and 1.0 g/cm.sup.3. The lightweight polymer-based composite product may have a density that is less than a comparable product that consists mainly of the polymer.