A composition suitable for use in forming a heavy layer of a heavy layered mat and include: 5 wt % to 30 wt % a propylene-based elastomer; 5 wt % to 30 wt % low density polyethylene; 0 wt % to 15 wt % linear low density polyethylene; 50 wt % to 90 wt % filler; and 0.1 wt % to 5 wt % processing aid. Optionally, the composition can further include 0.1 wt % to 20 wt % of a stabilizer and/or an antioxidant. Optionally, the composition can further include 0.1 wt % to 10 wt % EVA copolymer, or the composition can have an absence of EVA copolymer.

A foam includes a cellular structure and having a density of at most 0.50 g/cm.sup.3, where the cellular structure is provided by a solid material that includes humins. Such a foam is prepared in a process, which includes: providing a starting material containing humins; and heating the starting material to a temperature in the range of 150 to 450 C. The foam can be used in articles for a variety of applications such as substrate for plant growth, as adsorbent for treating waste water or waste gases, as support for solid catalysts, as insulation material, or packaging material.

A foam molded article includes a main agent resin, a filler of greater than or equal to 15% by mass and less than or equal to 80% by mass, and a foaming agent of greater than or equal to 0.01% by mass and less than or equal to 10% by mass, and a foaming ratio caused by the foaming agent is greater than or equal to 1.1 times.

A material composition including a matrix including a first material, the matrix including a plurality of voids disposed in the matrix, two or more voids being spaced apart from each other, a plurality of elongate fibers of a second material located within the matrix, wherein the plurality of fibers are configured to reinforce the matrix and, wherein the material composition is a composite material composition.

A process for manufacturing a porous body, includes preparing a dispersion liquid having a dispersion medium with cellulose-based nanofibers that have an average fiber diameter from 1 to 100 nm and dispersed therein, attaching the dispersion liquid to a porous support having a plurality of pores that connect with one another, removing the dispersion liquid attached to a surface of the porous support excluding an inside of pores of the porous support, and subsequently drying the porous support including the dispersion liquid in the pores of the porous support to remove the dispersion medium.

A method of preparing a powder matrix suitable for use in laser sintering for printing a three-dimensional object. A foamable polyaryletherketone (PAEK) matrix is provided and is foamed to create voids. The foamed matrix is ground to form PAEK particles having a mean diameter between 10 microns and 200 microns. In some embodiments, the foaming is performed via injection of a blowing agent into PAEK matrix during an extrusion of the PAEK matrix to form the plurality of voids in the PAEK foam.

The invention relates to a method for the production of a rigid PIR foam composite containing man-made vitreous fibres (MMVF), the method comprising: providing MMVF, wherein at least 50% of the fibres by weight have a length of less than 250 m; providing a polyol component; mixing the MMVF and polyol component in a ratio such that the amount of MMVF is at least 10% by weight based on total weight of polyol component; emulsifying pentane with the mixture of polyol component and MMVF; inducing foam formation by addition of a further component which comprises isocyanate.

The present invention relates to a new polypropylene composition for molded articles, such as finished parts for the automotive industry. A composition comprising: (A) from 40 to 85% by weight of a first propylene-based component being selected from propylene homopolymers, propylene copolymers and heterophasic propylene polymer, such first propylene-based component having a flexural modulus higher than 800 MPa; (B) from 5 to 20% by weight of a second propylene-based component being a heterophasic propylene polymer comprising: (B1) from 20 to 90% by weight of a crystalline polypropylene, and (B2) from 10 to 80% by weight of a copolymer of ethylene and at least one C.sub.3-C.sub.10 alpha-olefin, such copolymer containing from 10 to 70% by weight of ethylene, being soluble in xylene at room temperature, and having an intrinsic viscosity in tetrahydronaphtalene at 135 C. of higher than 3.5 dl/g; and (C) from 10 to 40% by weight of glass fibers.

The present invention concerns a material, based on fibrillar, elongated, or disk-like colloidal particles, that has a high scattering efficiency, a method that is suitable for preparing such a material, and the use of such a material. The material can be used as, or as a part of, a pigment, paint or protective coating in various industries, but due to its high scattering, and due to the fact that the material appears white even as a thin membrane, it is an interesting option also in the paper and pulp, cosmetic and medical industries.

A variety of polymeric composites with tunable mechanical stiffness and electrical conductivity are claimed herein. For example, the composite may have an elastomeric matrix, a plurality of tunable particles, and a plurality of conductive fibers embedded in the matrix. The composites may also be a tunable foam matrix and an elastomeric matrix. In some embodiments, the composites are a low melting point alloy (LMPA) foam infiltrated by an elastomer, whose stiffness can be tuned by more than two orders of magnitude through external heating. In other embodiments, the composite may be a conductive particle-fiber-matrix three-component composite capable of changing its elastic rigidity rapidly and reversibly when powered with electrical current.