A ballistic-resistant articles, and methods for their preparation, based on sheets of UHMWPE films with discontinuous film splits, which combine flexibility and good ballistic properties, making them suitable for both soft-ballistic and hard-ballistic applications.

A method for producing a polymer coated metal strip in a continuous coating line, including the subsequent steps of: laminating a thermoplastic polymer film onto at least one side of a metal strip to produce a polymer coated metal strip; post-heating the polymer coated metal strip to temperature sufficiently high to melt the thermoplastic polymer film to reduce orientation and crystallinity of the thermoplastic polymer film to target value; cooling the post-heated polymer coated metal strip; in-line illuminating the laminated polymer film with near-infrared light having one or more or all wavenumbers between 3500 and 9000 cm.sup.−1; in-line acquiring back-scattered near-infrared light with a near-infrared spectroscopy detector; calculating near-infrared spectrum from the back-scattered near-infrared light; comparing the calculated near-infrared spectrum to a reference material near-infrared spectrum to determine Conformity Index as measure of the laminated polymer film degree of crystallinity and/or molecular orientation.

Provided is a stretched body having a high barrier property under high humidity, a PET bottle, and a method for producing a container. The stretched body of a composition containing a semi-aromatic polyamide resin and plate-shaped talc having an aspect ratio of more than 18, a content of the plate-shaped talc having an aspect ratio of more than 18 in the composition is from 3.0 to 55.0 mass % when a total content of the semi-aromatic polyamide resin and the plate-shaped talc having an aspect ratio of more than 18 is 100 mass %.

A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite product includes: providing a first and second thermoplastic composite component made from a consolidated stack of thermoplastic composite plies, said first and second component having a first and second ply drop off, respectively. The first and second components are positioned such that the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off are aligned, and the first and second components are fixedly connected by means of heating. The stacks of plies for the first and second components are constructed by stacking the plies in a stacking direction wherein the plies are arranged such that plies at a different position along the stacking direction are laterally offset relative to each other for the purpose of forming the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off, respectively, before consolidating.

The present disclosure provides a thermally conductive article including a pad having first and second opposed major surfaces and a thickness therebetween. The thickness is formed of entangled thermally conductive fibers and at least a portion of the entangled thermally conductive fibers have at least one terminal end at the first opposed major surface, the opposed second major surface, or both. The pad is at least partially impregnated with a polymer. Another thermally conductive article is provided including a) a pad having first and second opposed major surfaces and a thickness therebetween; b) a first thermally conductive skin layer; and c) a second thermally conductive skin layer. The thickness of the pad is formed of aligned thermally conductive fibers, and at least a portion of the thermally conductive fibers have a terminal end at the first opposed major surface and the opposed second major surface. The first and second thermally conductive skin layers each include a polymeric matrix at least partially embedded in the terminal end of at least a portion of the thermally conductive fibers at the first and second major surfaces of the pad, respectively. Methods of making the thermally conductive articles are also provided.

Apparatus for longitudinal orientation of thermoplastic film material (4) comprises a width-reduction zone upstream of the longitudinal stretching zone, through which the width of the film is gradually reduced so as to allow longitudinal stretching without necking. The width-reduction zone comprises at least one, preferably several, pairs of pleating rollers (16, 17) comprising intermeshing grooves or discs for pleating the material, the length of said width reduction zone preferably being less than 3 times the original width of the film. The width-reducing zone has upstream (14) and downstream (15) rollers or roller assemblies, with curved axes and optionally also conveyor belts for providing smooth width reduction. Longitudinal stretching is preferably between at least two, and preferably more than two, pairs of stretching rollers (9, 10, 11, 12) which are relatively close together. The pleats may be provided in several stages with increasing pleats per stage, while guiding means preferably lay all the pleats to one side. The apparatus allows achievement of high tensile strength, yield point, resistance to tear propagation and puncture resistance, especially for polyethylene and polypropylene films.

A stretcher for processing a film is described. In particular, stretcher receives a film, graps edge portions of the film, conveys the film in a machine direction, and moves the opposing edge portions along diverging; substantially parabolic paths to form a stretched film.

The present disclosure provides a process. In an embodiment, the process includes elongating a multilayer film to a impart a haze value greater than 30% to the multilayer film. The multilayer film has at least two layers: (A) a core layer composed of an ethylene/-olefin multi-block copolymer and (B) a first skin layer in contact with the core layer, the skin layer composed of an ethylene-based polymer. The process includes releasing the elongating force from the elongated multilayer film to form a hazed multilayer film having a haze value greater than 30%. The process includes stretching the hazed multilayer film to form a stretched multilayer film having a clarity value greater than 80%. The process includes relaxing the stretch force from the stretched multilayer film to form a relaxed multilayer film having a haze value greater than 30%.

A polymer layer includes a first in-plane refractive index extending along a first direction of the polymer layer, a second in-plane refractive index less than the first in-plane refractive index extending along a second direction of the polymer layer orthogonal to the first direction, a third refractive index along a direction orthogonal to both the first direction and the second direction, and a plurality of wrinkles extending along a surface of the polymer layer, where a difference between the first in-plane refractive index and the second in-plane refractive index is at least approximately 0.05, and the third refractive index is greater than the second in-plane refractive index.

A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite product includes: providing a first and second thermoplastic composite component made from a consolidated stack of thermoplastic composite plies, said first and second component having a first and second ply drop off, respectively. The first and second components are positioned such that the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off are aligned, and the first and second components are fixedly connected by means of heating. The stacks of plies for the first and second components are constructed by stacking the plies in a stacking direction wherein the plies are arranged such that plies at a different position along the stacking direction are laterally offset relative to each other for the purpose of forming the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off, respectively, before consolidating.