A surface treatment method of an object, including the following steps: immersion of the object in a solution containing an acid or a mixture of acids, and having a pH between 0 and 6, so as to impregnate the surface of the object, removal of the object from the acid solution, and heating of the object to a temperature between 50 C. and the melting temperature of the object, until the required gloss and roughness surface properties are obtained.

The method is particularly but not exclusively applicable to objects derived from additive manufacturing techniques.

The invention relates to a calender stack for an extruded material web (51) made from thermoplastic, in particular a film web, having (a) a stand (1) which has (i) a first guide rail set (2) which comprises two arcuate first guide rails (2, 2) and (ii) a second guide rail set (3) which comprises two arcuate second guide rails (3, 3), (b) a first calender roll (8) which can be rotated about a first calender roll rotational axis D8) and is mounted on the stand (1), (c) a second calender roll (9) which forms a calender with the first calender roll (8) and is fastened to the stand (1), (d) an adjusting roll (14) which can be rotated about an adjusting roll rotational axis (D14) and is mounted on the stand (1), and (e) a supporting device (34), on which the stand (1) is mounted rotatably in such a way that the first calender roll rotational axis (D8) remains stationary during a rotation of the stand (1). According to the invention, the stand (1) is configured in such a way that the adjusting roll (14) can be positioned at an angle of inclination () of at least 55, wherein the angle of inclination () is formed firstly between a horizontal which runs perpendicularly with respect to the first calender roll rotational axis (D8) and through the first calender roll rotational axis (D8), and secondly a straight line which runs perpendicularly with respect to the first calender roll rotational axis (D8) through the first calender roll rotational axis (D8) and through the adjusting roll rotational axis (D14).

A method for manufacturing a composite material includes placing a netlike sheet material, through which a resin composition permeates, on reinforcing fiber substrates disposed on a forming die. The method includes covering the reinforcing fiber substrates disposed on the forming die and the bag surface-smoothing sheet with a bag film to form a sealed forming space between the bag film and the forming die. The method includes infusing a resin composition into the forming space to impregnate the reinforcing fiber substrates. The method includes curing the resin composition impregnated in the reinforcing fiber substrates. Warp yarns and weft yarns are disposed in a lattice pattern and, after placing the bag surface-smoothing sheet on the reinforcing fiber substrates so that the warp yarns and the weft yarns form acute angles with respect to corners of the reinforcing fiber substrates, the bag surface-smoothing sheet projecting from the reinforcing fiber substrates is bent.

Apparatuses and methods are provided for manufacturing a transaction card. The disclosed apparatuses and methods may be used to form a transaction card frame configured to house a data storage component. The card frame may be formed of a resin mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). The card frame may also have a Shore D hardness in the range of 20-80.

Fiber reinforced composites are made by infusing a mass of reinforcing fibers with a resin composition. The resin composition includes a liquid phase and a small amount of dispersed filler particles. The dispersed filler particles are small in at least one dimension, compared to the diameter of the reinforcing fibers. The resin composition is subsequently hardened to form the composite. This method produces a composite having a very smooth surface. Print-out of the reinforcing fiber is greatly reduced without the need to mask it through the application of thick coatings or additional layers of material.

Apparatuses and methods are provided for manufacturing a transaction card. The disclosed apparatuses and methods may be used to form a transaction card frame configured to house a data storage component. The card frame may be formed of a resin mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). The card frame may also have a Shore D hardness in the range of 20-80.

The invention relates to a powder application unit (8) for a PBLS system (1), wherein the powder application unit (8) comprises an application medium which is movably mounted parallel to a working plane of the PBLS system (1) in order to be able to move powder along the working plane, wherein a distance of the application medium to the working plane can be modified in that the application medium is mounted about a swivel axis (S) in a swiveling manner in order to be able to swivel the application medium away from the working plane. In order to provide an improved powder application unit, according to the invention the powder application unit (8) has a means for swiveling the application medium which is designed and which interacts with the application medium such that the application medium is first unswiveled in a work position during outward travel and then, during the continued travel along a predetermined route, is swiveled against the work position and, during an opposite return travel along the predetermined route, is unswiveled in the work position. The invention further relates to a method for applying two successive powder layers in a PBLS method.

A structural reinforcement and biocompatible pump head for a pump includes a reinforcement structure having a plurality of ports and fluid pathways therein. The fluid pathways in the reinforcement may be coated or lined with a biocompatible material to form a biocompatible pump head useful for liquid chromatography and other analytical instrument systems. The biocompatible material may be injection molded into the fluid pathways of the reinforcement structure and may be machined after core pins are removed to obtain a desired surface finish and/or size of the biocompatible fluid pathways of the pump head.

The present invention features a liquid, solvent-free, silica precursor and two-photon 3D printing process to meet the increasing needs of high-precision glass micro-optics and address the major limitations of current three-dimensional (3D) printing optics. The printed optical elements may be fully converted to transparent inorganic glass at temperatures as low as 600? C. with shrinkages as low as 17%. The present invention includes a complete process chain, from material development, printing process, and performance evaluation of the printed glass micro-optics. 3D printing of glass micro-optics with isotropic shrinkage, micrometer resolution, low deviation peak-to-valley value (<100 nm), and low surface roughness (<6 nm) has been demonstrated. The present invention enables the rapid fabrication of complex glass micro-optics previously impossible using conventional glass optics fabrication processes.

Apparatuses and methods are provided for manufacturing a transaction card. The disclosed apparatuses and methods may be used to form a transaction card frame configured to house a data storage component. The card frame may be formed of a resin mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). The card frame may also have a Shore D hardness in the range of 20-80.