A yarn or thread may include a plurality of substantially aligned filaments, with at least ninety-five percent of a material of the filaments being a thermoplastic polymer material. Various woven textiles and knitted textiles may be formed from the yarn or thread. The woven textiles or knitted textiles may be thermal bonded to other elements to form seams. A strand that is at least partially formed from a thermoplastic polymer material may extend through the seam, and the strand may be thermal bonded at the seam. The woven textiles or knitted textiles may be shaped or molded, incorporated into products, and recycled to form other products.

A method of producing flexible polypropylene fabric bags with heat fused seams comprising providing fabric pieces, wherein each fabric piece has a coated side and an uncoated side; positioning fabric pieces so that a coated side of one fabric piece faces a coated side of another fabric piece; selecting an area of fabric to be joined for forming a seam or joint; applying heat to the area to be joined that is less than the melting point of the fabrics, for forming one or more seams or joints and wherein the heat fused seams or joints of a resulting polypropylene bag retains at least 85% of the fabric strength without using sewing machines.

An apparatus and method for joining pipes includes a plate for melting mating surfaces of the pipes to be joined. Additionally, the apparatus utilizes a vacuum in order to push the first and second pipes together in lieu of hand or mechanical pressure which may be inconsistent. Additionally, the vacuum allows the pipes to be joined to settle on each other in order to create a pressure about a periphery of the end of the pipe being joined to the other pipe. The consistent pressure creates a very strong joint between the first and second pipes.

A method of bonding materials may comprise defining a bond interface between two materials in a cure zone on a surface of an object and heating the bond interface with sound waves. Heating the bond interface may include applying ultrasonic sound waves to the bond interface.

A yarn or thread may include a plurality of substantially aligned filaments, with at least ninety-five percent of a material of the filaments being a thermoplastic polymer material. Various woven textiles and knitted textiles may be formed from the yarn or thread. The woven textiles or knitted textiles may be thermal bonded to other elements to form seams. A strand that is at least partially formed from a thermoplastic polymer material may extend through the seam, and the strand may be thermal bonded at the seam. The woven textiles or knitted textiles may be shaped or molded, incorporated into products, and recycled to form other products.

A welding method for producing an integral bond of fiber-reinforced plastics parts includes a welding head penetrating one of the plastics parts. The method includes reinforcing at least a first plastics part by a plurality of directional fibers. The re-inforcing fibers reorient themselves within the connection region without severing or breaking.

A method of fabricating a composite joint from a first cured composite component (13) and a second cured composite component (14), the first and second cured composite components (13, 14) comprising fiber elements embedded in a thermoset resin matrix; the method comprising the steps of providing an adhesive (15) on at least one of the first and/or second composite components (13, 14); forming a joint region between the first and second composite component by bringing the first and second composite component into contact with each other with the adhesive (15) therebetween; applying a force to the joint region (16, 17); and heating the first composite component in the joint region to a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the thermoset resin matrix of the first composite component.

A manufacturing method for a multilayer wiring board includes: forming a groove on a surface of a first thermoplastic resin board; forming a modified layer made of resin having a melting point lower than a melting point of resin constituting the first thermoplastic resin board, by applying light to a region of the surface of the first thermoplastic resin board other than a region around the groove; filling the groove of the first thermoplastic resin board with conductive material having fluidity; and bonding a second thermoplastic resin board to the surface of the first thermoplastic resin board, on which the modified layer is formed, by thermocompression bonding.

A heating apparatus for heating a reinforcing layer of a composite material structure is disclosed. The heating apparatus includes a housing having a base and a housing body defining a housing interior space. A radiant heating assembly is disposed within the housing and configured to transfer radiant heat to the reinforcing layer. Additionally, a convection heating assembly is formed within the housing including at least one convection assembly gas passage. The heating apparatus further includes a convection assembly gas outlet coupled to the convection assembly gas passage and a convection assembly gas flows from the convection assembly gas outlet. The convection assembly gas flows along to heat the convection assembly gas. The heating apparatus further includes a redirection gas passage coupled to a redirection nozzle formed at a convection heat application point. A redirection gas flows from the redirection nozzle to direct the convection assembly gas towards the reinforcing layer.

A machine and process for a heating system for a composite patch comprising a light beam and a controller. The controller is configured to command the light beam to heat the resin in the composite patch to a desired level for curing while avoiding overheating a fiber in the composite patch.