Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. The finished straws may be soil- and marine-biodegradable, as well as home- and industrial-compostable.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a bioactive composite, the method comprising the steps of a) adding in a solid state a biocompatible polymer and a bioactive glass to an extruder to form an extrudable material; b) applying energy to the extrudable material to at least the melting temperature of the biocompatible polymer to melt mix the biocompatible polymer and bioactive glass; and c) extruding a bioactive composite.

A consumable material for use in an extrusion-based digital manufacturing system, the consumable material comprising a length and a cross-sectional profile of at least a portion of the length that is axially asymmetric. The cross-sectional profile is configured to provide a response time with a non-cylindrical liquefier of the extrusion-based digital manufacturing system that is faster than a response time achievable with a cylindrical filament in a cylindrical liquefier for a same thermally limited, maximum volumetric flow rate.

Disclosed are multilayer films which can provide desired low-temperature bag drop performance suited for laminate freezer film packaging.

A plant and method for making continuous yarns made of silicone material comprises at least an extrusion station, into which the material is introduced in an amorphous condition, and extrusion means which cause the material to exit from the extrusion station along an extrusion axis. The plant also comprises a vulcanization station, located downstream of the extrusion station, at a determinate distance therefrom, in which the continuous yarn is vulcanized in a direction of treatment. The plant also comprises a drawing unit, disposed downstream of the vulcanization station.

In one embodiment, a method of forming an extruded board includes mixing a resin and a foaming agent, melting the mixed resin and foaming agent to form a uniformly colored extrudate, differentially expanding voids formed from the foaming agent within the uniformly colored extrudate by passing the uniformly colored extrudate through a breaker plate, forming a board with the differentially expanded voids and uniformly colored extrudate, and forming lightened portions on an outermost surface of the formed board.

A reflective optical film includes a reflective light-polarizing unit including a multilayer reflective sheet composed of a plurality of polymer films stacked on top of one another. Each polymer film has a thickness, every two adjacent polymer films are two different materials, and the thicknesses of the polymer films are gradually decreased from two outmost sides of the multilayer reflective sheet to a middle of the multilayer reflective sheet. At least one of the polymer films is a birefringence material layer that conforms to the condition of NXNYNZ, where NX is the index of refraction of light at X direction of the multilayer reflective sheet, NY is the index of refraction of light at Y direction of the multilayer reflective sheet, and NZ is the index of refraction of light at Z direction of the multilayer reflective sheet.

Disclosed is a device and method for dynamic extrusion molding of plastic articles having variable micro-channel. The device mainly includes a single-screw extruder, a dynamic extrusion die, a fluid source, a water sink, a tractor, a winding device, and a data acquisition and control system. Near outlet of extrusion die, when the end portion of a syringe needle is at different positions, the inner diameter of the micro-channel of the extrusion molded plastic article is also different. When the hollow syringe core within the dynamic extrusion die performs a high-frequency short-range vibration along an extrusion direction, the inner diameter of the micro-channel of the extruded plastic articles is dynamically variable. The plastic articles of variable micro-channel of the present invention has novel structure with high dimensional accuracy, and a variety of varying patterns, it can be stably produced by simple processing equipment with high level of automation.

A consumable material for use in an extrusion-based digital manufacturing system, the consumable material comprising a length and a cross-sectional profile of at least a portion of the length that is axially asymmetric. The cross-sectional profile is configured to provide a response time with a non-cylindrical liquefier of the extrusion-based digital manufacturing system that is faster than a response time achievable with a cylindrical filament in a cylindrical liquefier for a same thermally limited, maximum volumetric flow rate.

A method of making polymeric composite particles from polymeric scrap material, virgin polymeric material, or mixtures thereof and glass particles by subjecting a mixture of the polymeric particles and glass particles to a solid state shear pulverization and in-situ polymer compatibilization.