The present invention relates to a polymer blend and to multilayer heat shrinkable films containing at least a layer made of said polymer blend, to flexible containers made of said film, such as bags, pouches and the like, useful for packaging articles, in particular food items. The invention also relates to a process for the manufacturing of such multilayer heat shrinkable films.

A method for manufacturing a plurality of labeling bands includes extruding an elastic material, co-extruding a label material with the elastic material, curing the elastic material and the label material, and locating a plurality of demarcations at intervals along the length of the tube to define the plurality of labeling bands. Co-extruding the label material with the elastic material includes forming a tube having an outer surface, an inner surface and a length, so that the label material forms a stripe on the outer surface. In another aspect, an article of manufacture includes an endless band of a first elastic material and a label of a second material embedded into an outer surface of the endless band. The endless band includes the outer surface, an inner surface and first and second opposed perimeter edges, each of the first and second opposed perimeter edges having a common unstretched perimeter dimension.

The continuity of a functional layer of a web (32, 60, 78) is assessed by forwarding the web, detecting (42, 63) the presence of the functional layer and a discontinuity and/or a thin region in the functional layer, and generating a signal in response to the discontinuity and/or thin region. The functional layer comprises a detectable component (360) in a thermoplastic composition. The detecting is carried out by a machine vision system capable of detecting the detectable component (360) in the functional layer. The detectable component (360) can be active or passive. Also included are systems for carrying out the process.

A composite tube includes a first layer including a cross-linked polyolefin elastomer, wherein the first layer is configured for fluid contact; and a second layer adjacent to the first layer, the second layer including an elastomer.

A curable composition comprising a fluorinated amorphous fluoropolymer, and a blend of polysulfonamide and polyol crosslinking agents.

A plant for producing an extruded silicone intermediate has a mixer/extruder for mixing and subsequently extruding a silicone compound for producing a raw silicone extrudate. A heating apparatus of the plant serves for crosslinking the raw extrudate to give the crosslinked silicone intermediate. The result is a plant with which a silicone intermediate of this kind can be produced more economically.

A heat-shrinkable multilayer film for being filled with contents, comprising an outer surface layer (A) comprising a heat-resistant thermoplastic resin, an intermediate layer (B) comprising a polyamide-based resin, an inner surface layer (D) comprising an ethylene-based copolymer, and adhesion strength between inner surface layers after treatment with 80 C. hot water being not less than 10 N/15 mm. The polyamide-based heat-shrinkable multilayer film obtained in this manner has optimal characteristics for applications that primarily require strength, and has greatly improved self-weldability demanded in packaging films for meat products such as fresh and processed meats.

The present invention relates to a polymer blend and to multilayer heat shrinkable films containing at least a layer made of said polymer blend, to flexible containers made of said film, such as bags, pouches and the like, useful for packaging articles, in particular food items. The invention also relates to a process for the manufacturing of such multilayer heat shrinkable films.

A single or multiple lumen catheter is disclosed which includes an expandable lumen. The expandable lumen is movable from a collapsed or sealed configuration to an open or expanded configuration. In the open configuration, the expandable lumen is dimensioned to receive a guidewire or stylet or facilitate the introduction of fluids into a patient.

An extrusion system (100) according to certain aspects includes at least one infrared emitting device (102) arranged in a generally cylindrical shape with a hollow interior. The at least one infrared emitting device (102) is positioned downstream of an outlet of an extrusion die (110) to irradiate a perimeter of wet extrudate material in a uniform manner to form stiffened wet extrudate material (116) before such material is received by an extrudate support channel (118). The at least one infrared emitting device (102) generally uniformly stiffens the skin of the wet extrudate material (116) to resist mechanical deformation of the extrudate material during subsequent handling steps. Such skin stiffening allows for increased tolerance of handling forces and permits extrusion of softer wet extrudate material without compromising the shape of a fired ceramic product.