A hot press cushioning material (10) of the present invention includes, as a base material, a woven fabric layer (11) using bulky yarn (12) as at least one of the warp and weft, and a nonwoven fabric layer (14) placed on one surface side of the woven fabric layer (11), a part of the nonwoven fabric layer (14) being embedded in the woven fabric layer (11). A nonwoven fabric-resin composite layer (18) is formed in the opposite surface of the nonwoven fabric layer (14) from the woven fabric layer (11) by impregnation with resin (15). A woven fabric-rubber composite layer (19) is formed in the other surface of the woven fabric layer (11) by impregnation with rubber (16). The nonwoven fabric-resin composite layer (18) and the woven fabric-rubber composite layer (19) have voids (17) therein.

Curing cauls formed of a one-piece three-dimensional resiliently shape-retentive fiber-reinforced body are provided, whereby the body includes a fibrous sheet coated with at least one layer of a cured elastomeric resin. The fibrous sheet may be embedded within the cured elastomeric resin, with the body having a stiffened perimetrical edge region and a stiffened ridge region vertically spaced from the edge region.

A method for producing a hologram on a curved substrate plate includes providing a curved substrate plate having a substrate surface, the actual geometry of which is subject to a tolerance deviation with respect to a predetermined desired geometry; providing an inflatable cushion with a cushion surface that can be deformed under the effect of pressure and is preformed into the predetermined desired geometry or with a predetermined deviation therefrom; applying a holographic master in the form of a flexible thin layer to the deformable cushion surface and applying a hologram-recording layer to the substrate surface; pressing or placing the holographic master onto the hologram-recording layer by way of the cushion surface deformed to the actual geometry, thereby achieving full surface-area contact between them with a substantially constant predetermined layer thickness of the hologram-recording layer, and exposing the hologram-recording layer to form a hologram.

A system for manufacturing a panel includes a support frame, a first caul plate arranged atop the support frame, a second caul plate arranged atop the first caul plate, and a heating assembly having a housing defining an inlet and an outlet. The housing includes one or more heaters. The heater(s) is configured to generate heat and the housing is configured to generate a first pressurized gas film. Thus, one or more layers of material to be consolidated may be placed between the first and second caul plates and drawn through the heating assembly as the heating assembly applies pressure to the one or more layers of material to be consolidated via the first pressurized gas film in combination with applying the heat via the one or more heaters, thereby consolidating the panel.

A method for molding a composite material includes arranging a laminate of fiber sheets on a molding die with a part of the laminate facing a recess of the molding die; covering the laminate with a covering member to hermetically seal a space between the covering member and the molding die; sucking atmosphere in the space between the covering member and the molding die to draw in the part of the laminate into the recess and to shape the laminate; and molding the composite material including the product portion and the excess portion by curing the laminate after shaping.

Disclosed is a laminating apparatus capable of suppressing the generation of voids in a resulting laminate and manufacturing a laminate with improved flatness, including a vacuum laminating device and a first flat press laminating device. The vacuum laminating device includes a pair of plate blocks, and a base material and resin are pressed between the plate blocks. The plate block which is movable forwardly and backwardly includes an elastic pressing plate and a buffer material, and the buffer material has a multi-layer structure comprised of not less than three layers including a fiber layer and a rubber layer. A pressing force against the base material and the resin between the pair of plate blocks is set in the range of 2.5 to 3.97 MPa per 500 mm square area.