A steam chest mold includes two mold sections defining a mold cavity and a plurality of steam tubes having steam ports positioned within the mold cavity. The mold cavity is closable to contain and compress a plurality of beads such as expanded polyolefin beads. The steam tubes pass through the beads such that steam is injected through the steam ports into the beads to facilitate localized melting and bonding o the bead interfaces to produce a water-impervious panel or billet form. The steam tubes permit bonding of interior beads in thick section billets and panels that cannot be accessed by perimeter steam sources.

A manufacturing method for a car safety seat includes the following steps: providing a mold and disposing a main body of the car safety seat into the mold, and injecting a foam material into a cavity of the mold and foaming the foam material so as to form a flexible layer integrated with the main body. A pressure in the cavity is between 1.5 bar and 5.0 bar. The manufacturing method disposes the main body into the mold and directly forms a flexible layer on the main body, so that the flexible layer ensures safety and comfort of the car safety seat while saves the necessity to dispose a seat pad or a cushion and fixing structures on the main body, and thereby reduces the cost and the work-hour of assembly, and the overall weight of the car safety seat can be reduced by omitting the fixing structures.

A manufacturing method for a child carrying device includes the following steps: providing a mold and disposing a main body of the child carrying device into the mold, and injecting a foam material into a cavity of the mold and foaming the foam material so as to form a flexible layer integrated with the main body. The manufacturing method disposes the main body into the mold and directly forms a flexible layer on the main body, so that the flexible layer ensures safety and comfort of the child carrying device while saves the necessity to dispose a seat pad or a cushion and fixing structures on the main body, and thereby reduces the cost and the work-hour of assembly, and the overall weight of the child carrying device can be reduced by omitting the fixing structures.

A method for producing a foamed particle molded article provided with a skin, includes: forming a hollow molded article; filling a hollow part of the hollow molded article with polypropylene-based resin foamed particles; and heating and fusing the particles to each other. A melt elongation at 190° C. of the polypropylene-based resin forming the hollow molded article is 100 m/min or more. A half-crystallization time at 100° C. of the polypropylene-based resin is between 25 to 80 seconds. In heat flux differential scanning calorimetry, a melting peak temperature of the polypropylene-based resin is between 130 to 155° C., a partial heat of fusion at 140° C. or more of the polypropylene-based resin is between 20 to 50 J/g, and a ratio of the partial heat of fusion of the polypropylene-based resin to the total (partial heat of fusion/total heat of fusion) is between 0.2 to 0.8.

A laminated article includes a thermoplastic resin expanded beads molded layer A having a volume Va and a tensile modulus TMa which is 2 to 100 MPa, and a thermoplastic elastomer expanded beads molded layer B having a volume Vb and a tensile modulus TMb which is 0.05 MPa or more and less than 2 MPa, the layers A and B being laminated and bonded to each other. Va:Vb is 90:10 to 50:50 and TMb/TMa is 0.025 or less.

Low-density thermoplastic expandable microspheres are disclosed. Various low-density structures, in particular, sandwich panels, based on foam prepared from the low-density microspheres, are also disclosed. Process of preparing low-density polymeric microspheres, per se, and the corresponding low-density structures, based on the microsphere foam, are also disclosed.

A method for producing expanded particles having a high expansion ratio by a pressure-release expansion with a simpler configuration and at a low facility cost is provided. A production device includes an expansion cylinder being provided with a connecting port that connects with open-system branch cylinder and having a space of a saturated steam atmosphere. The space of a saturated steam atmosphere may be a different space from a space inside the branch cylinder. A temperature (T1) inside the expansion chamber exceeds 102° C. and is not higher than a higher one of 108° C. and a temperature obtained by a melting point Tm of a thermoplastic resin minus 14° C. A temperature (T2) at a connecting port is not lower than 100° C., and the temperature (T1) is higher than the temperature (T2).

Methods of making molded foam articles. The methods include introducing steam into a mold simultaneous to filling the mold with foam particles. The method can be performed faster and with a lower ΔT than conventional molding processes, permitting faster turn-around to the production of subsequent molded articles. The molded articles produced by the method can have thicker side walls and improved foam particle fusion as compared to conventional molding processes.

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a step of a process carried out by a machine. The invention is characterized in that a sensor is used to measure a variable characteristic with an exponential course for a step, and with the aid of several consecutive measurements of the characteristic variable a time constant of the exponential change is determined, and the step is ended after it has been carried out for a period of time corresponding to a predetermined multiple of the time constant.

A helmet and method for forming a helmet having a multi-density impact liner may include forming a puck comprising an interface surface and at least one side is formed. The interface surface of the puck is placed in direct contact with a receiving surface of a cap located in an impact liner mold. Next, the interface surface of the puck is thermally fused directly to the receiving surface of the cap while contemporaneously an impact liner body is formed inside the mold. The impact liner body is fused to the at least one side of the puck, and to a majority of the receiving surface of the cap. The density of the puck may be greater than the density of the impact liner body. The puck and the impact liner body may be expanded polystyrene (EPS), and the cap may be polycarbonate (PC).