There is provided a polymer fabrication method for forming 3-dimensional shapes from a sheet polymer blank (10) by machining at least one re-entrant, elongate groove forming a reduced thickness portion (25) permitting the blank to be folded and having opposed edges (12) at the surface, folding the blank about the groove to form at least a portion of the 3-dimensional shape, the re-entrant of the groove forming an elongate chamber (21) adjacent the reduced thickness portion and opening through an elongate gap (20) between the opposed edges, hot air welding the opposed edges across the gap with filler rod (22), and heating the reduced thickness portion to a selected thermo-reforming temperature via the chamber.

A butt fusion machine for joining of polyethylene pipe comprises a carriage assembly and a carriage controller disposed in the fusion machine. Programmed instructions stored in a non-volatile memory of the carriage controller control the carriage assembly for selectively operating in at least manual, automatic, and semi-automatic modes of the butt fusion process. The butt fusion process, after a setup sequence includes (1) selecting a sequence of operating steps of an automatic mode, a semi-automatic mode, and a manual mode; and (2) executing the selected operating mode. The semi-automatic mode includes at least one step requiring intervention by an operator to confirm proceeding to a next step.

A butt fusion machine for joining of polyethylene pipe comprises a carriage assembly and a carriage controller disposed in the fusion machine. Programmed instructions stored in a non-volatile memory of the carriage controller control the carriage assembly for selectively operating in at least manual, automatic, and semi-automatic modes of the butt fusion process. The butt fusion process, after a setup sequence includes (1) selecting a sequence of operating steps of an automatic mode, a semi-automatic mode, and a manual mode; and (2) executing the selected operating mode. The semi-automatic mode includes at least one step requiring intervention by an operator to confirm proceeding to a next step.

A friction pad (12) for inhibiting movement of a device (10) relative to an engagement surface (16) includes a pad body (18) and an adhesive material (232). The pad body (18) has a first body surface (20) and an opposed second body surface (22). The first body surface (20) is configured to be coupled to an outer surface (14) of the device (10). The second body surface (22) is configured to engage the engagement surface (16). The pad body (18) is formed at least in part from a body material (18A) including high-density polyethylene. The second body surface (22) of the pad body (18) has a static coefficient of friction of at least approximately 1.0. The second body surface (22) includes a plurality of spaced apart surface features (234), each of the plurality of surface features (234) having a feature height (358) of between approximately 0.15 millimeters and 1.00 millimeters. The adhesive material (232) is positioned on the first body surface (20) such that the first body surface (20) is configured to be fixedly coupled to the outer surface (14) of the device (10).

Multi-layered articles or products comprising layers of filled polymer compositions, methods of making and applications or uses thereof.

Multi-layered articles or products comprising layers of filled polymer compositions, methods of making and applications or uses thereof.

A method of securing a first component part and a second component part together, the method comprising providing an electrically conductive member between a first surface of the first component part and a facing first surface of the second component part and securing the first and second components together by passing a current through the electrically conductive member. The electrically conductive member is distributed across at least 50% of the surface area of the first surface of the first component part.

A method of securing a first component part and a second component part together, the method comprising providing an electrically conductive member between a first surface of the first component part and a facing first surface of the second component part and securing the first and second components together by passing a current through the electrically conductive member. The electrically conductive member is distributed across at least 50% of the surface area of the first surface of the first component part.

Provided is a device for forming plastic preforms into plastic containers, having a feed device for feeding the plastic preforms to the device, at least one first preform store, a multiplicity of plastic preforms being arranged unsorted in the preform store, and having an alignment device for bringing the plastic preforms into a predetermined position before feeding them to the device. The device includes at least a second preform store, wherein a plurality of plastic preforms of exactly one production batch can be accommodated in each preform store.

A fuel tank manufacturing apparatus for a fuel tank, the fuel tank having therein a built-in component with a head portion, a neck portion, and a shoulder portion, and having the built-in component anchored to a tank body with a part of a parison wrapped around the neck portion during molding the tank body, includes: a pair of molding dies to have the parison transferred to the built-in component by blow molding; and shaping devices respectively provided in the pair of molding dies, wherein the shaping devices each include: an end surface to contact the parison; a recess provided in the end surface to receive the head portion and the neck portion and covered by the shoulder portion during molding; and an air hole provided in an area of a bottom surface of the recess corresponding to the head portion through which air pressure is applied toward the head portion.