The invention relates to a process for the production of prefoamed poly(meth)acrylimide (P(M)I) particles which can be further processed to give foam mouldings or composites. A feature of this process is that a polymer granulate is first heated and thus prefoamed in an apparatus by means of IR radiation of a wavelength suitable for this purpose. Said granulate can be further processed in subsequent steps, e.g. in a press mould with foaming to give a moulding or a composite workpiece with foam core.

A functional polymer membrane of the present invention contains a polymer containing at least a structure represented by the following Formula (I), a method for producing the membrane, and an ion exchange apparatus: ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group; R.sup.3 to R.sup.6 each represent a substituent; R.sup.3 to R.sup.6 may be bonded to each other and form a ring; A.sup.1 to A.sup.4 each represent a single bond or a divalent linking group; M.sup.1 represents a hydrogen ion, an organic base ion, or a metal ion; J.sup.1 represents a single bond, O, S, SO.sub.2, CO, CR.sup.8R.sup.9, or an alkenylene group, and R.sup.8 and R.sup.9 each represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a halogen atom; and k1, k2, k3, k4, n1, n2, m1, m2, p, and q each represent a particular integer.

Provided is a polymer film in which metal oxide particles are localized to a great degree, wherein the polymer film is a hard coat layer that includes a binder including a first polymer component and a second polymer component that are miscible with each other and metal oxide particles that are unevenly distributed with a greater concentration toward at least one of a surface portion and the other surface portion opposite the surface portion, wherein the first polymer component may be hydrophilic, the second polymer component may be hydrophobic relative to the first polymer component, a proportion of the first polymer component may gradually decrease from the surface portion to the other surface portion, and the surface portion may be toward a substrate for forming the polymer film. An optical member, such as a polarization member, and a display device employing the polymer film are also provided.

The invention relates to the production of PMI foams, more particularly to their formulating ingredients, which lead to particular facility in adjusting the density at given foaming temperature.

A disclosed process includes steps of heating a foamed material by irradiation with near infrared radiation having a wavelength between 0.78 and 1.40 m to form a heated material, forming the heated material with a forming tool to obtain a formed material, and cooling the formed material and demolding to obtain a final workpiece. The foamed material may be constructed as a composite ply construction including an outer material and a foamed core between the outer material. The foamed material may contain a poly(meth)acrylimde, a polypropylene or a highly-crosslinked polyurethane.

A membrane obtainable from curing a composition comprising: (i) a curable compound comprising at least two (meth)acrylic groups and a sulphonic acid group and having a molecular weight which satisfies the equation:
MW<(300+300n) wherein: MW is the molecular weight of the said curable compound; and n has a value of 1, 2, 3 or 4 and is the number of sulphonic acid groups present in the said curable compound; and optionally (ii) a curable compound having one ethylenically unsaturated group; wherein the molar fraction of curable compounds comprising at least two (meth)acrylic groups, relative to the total number of moles of curable compounds present in the composition, is at least 0.25.

A self-supported ion exchange membrane including a polymerized and crosslinked monomer, where the monomer includes: a least one ionic group, a polymerized group, and a silicate group; and a polymer chemically bonded to crosslinked monomer through the silicate group.

Provided is a prepreg including a fiber substrate having a thickness of 40 ?m or more impregnated with a thermosetting resin composition, the prepreg having in the fiber substrate an impregnated region and a non-impregnated region with the thermosetting resin composition, having a surface waviness (Wa) of 5.0 ?m or less. Also provided are a laminate, a metal-clad laminate, a printed wiring board, and a semiconductor package, which are obtained by using the prepreg, a method of producing the prepreg, and a method of producing the metal-clad laminate.

Provided among other things is an elastomeric article providing a chemical barrier, the article having a layered structure comprising a sequential laminate of: (a) a latex-based elastomeric polymeric barrier layer; (b) a non-reactive tie adhesive resin layer comprising oxo ((C?O)) groups; and (c) a polyamide layer; wherein the layered structure has a first side nearest the latex-based elastomeric polymeric barrier layer and a second side; wherein the layered structure is effective to provide a chemical permeation time in excess of 100 minutes pursuant to EN 16523-1:2015 for benchmark solvents of acetone, ethyl acetate and methanol, when applied to the first side, and in excess of 100 minutes for acetone when applied to the second side; and wherein the elastomeric layer is primarily not polyolefin.

A method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material containing a polyimide resin (A) having a predetermined repeating unit and a continuous reinforcing fiber (B), the method including the following steps (I) and (II) in this order: step (I): a step of laminating at least one polyimide resin (A) layer and at least one continuous reinforcing fiber (B) layer to obtain a laminated product; and step (II): a step of molding the laminated product by heating and pressurizing under a condition where a working parameter X expressed by the following expression (i) is 35 or more and 87 or less:
X=(Tp?Tm).sup.3?P.sup.1/2/1000(i)
wherein in the expression (i), Tp represents a temperature (? C.) during the molding, Tm represents a melting point (? C.) of the polyimide resin (A), and P represents a press pressure (MPa) during the molding.