The invention relates to a process for the production of mold-foamed poly(meth)acrylimide (P(M)I) cores, in particular of polymethacrylimide (PMI) cores, which can be used by way of example in automobile construction or aircraft construction. A feature of this process is that polymer granules or polymer powder preheated under pressure are moreover charged under pressure to a compression mold where they are foamed with depressurization. In particular, a feature of the process is that it optionally uses a preferably two-shell compression mold for the heating and also for the cooling of the granules and, respectively, the rigid foam core formed therefrom.

Provided are a varnish for porous polyimide film production, providing an unburned composite film that is less likely to have a sea-island structure, and a method for producing a porous polyimide film using the same. The varnish according to the present invention comprises a resin including polyamide acid and/or polyimide, fine particles, and a solvent, and has a fine particle content of not less than 65% by volume relative to the total of the resin and the fine particles and a viscosity at 25 C. of not less than 550 mPa.Math.s. Preferably, the varnish further comprises a dispersant. The method for producing a porous polyimide film according to the present invention comprises: forming an unburned composite film using the varnish; burning the unburned composite film to obtain a polyimide-fine particle composite film; and removing the fine particles from the polyimide-fine particle composite film.

Embodiments provide a hard coat laminate film that has, in order from a surface layer side, layers of a first hard coat and a transparent resin film. According to at least one embodiment, the first hard coat contains (A) 100 parts by mass of a multifunctional (meth)acrylate including 20 mass % or more of tripentaerythritol acrylate, and (B) 0.01-7 parts by mass of a (meth)acryloyl group-containing fluoropolyetherbased water repellent, and is formed from a paint not containing inorganic particles. The thickness of the hard coat laminated film is 5-60 ?m. Component (A) may be a mixture of: tripentaerythritol acrylate; and at least one selected from the group consisting of dipentaerythritol acrylate, monopentaerythritol acrylate, and polypentaerythritol acrylate.

In one aspect, devices for collecting and enriching microbes are described herein. In some embodiments, such a device comprises a shape memory gel and a plurality of nanoantennas dispersed in the gel. The nanoantennas can be non-uniformly dispersed in the gel. Additionally, the nanoantennas are operable to receive an external signal and thereby induce a local change in state of the gel, such as a local change in thermodynamic state of the gel.

An in-situ foam system and process comprises the components one or more inorganic fillers A) at from 50 to 98 wt %, one or more cationic or amphoteric polymers B) at from 1 to 48 wt %, one or more surfactants C) at from 0.5 to 48 wt %, one or more crosslinkers D) capable of reacting with said polymers B) at from 0.01 to 5 wt %, one or more cell regulators E), selected from silicones, siliconates and carbon, at from 0.5 to 10 wt %, one or more additives F) at from 0 to 20 wt %, wherein the weight percentages of said components A) to F) are based on the nonaqueous fractions and the sum total of A) to F) adds up to 100 wt %.

This invention aims to provide a thermally foamable microsphere which is excellent in heat resistance, has a high expansion ratio, and shows stable foaming behavior; a method of producing the thermally foamable microsphere; and suitable use thereof. This invention provides a thermally foamable microsphere in which an outer shell encapsulating a foaming agent is formed of a copolymer having a polymethacrylimide structure. In particular, this invention provides a thermally foamable microsphere in which monomers capable of forming the polymethacrylimide structure by a copolymerization reaction are methacrylonitrile and methacrylic acid. Moreover, this invention provides a method of producing the thermally foamable microsphere and use of the thermally foamable microsphere as an additive.

Provided are a copolymer-titanium composite which is crosslinked without a crosslinking agent and an initiator and a copolymer-titanium composite composition including the composite. An organic-inorganic hybrid film produced by including the composition may have a significant refractive index without a large increase in a thickness change rate and may solve a problem of a decrease in optical properties by low dispersibility of a conventional organic-inorganic film by a chemically bonded oxygen-titanium network structure, and an organic film having an excellent refractive index may be provided only with the copolymer.

A nanocomposite is provided including spherical pyrogenic silica nanoparticles dispersed in a curable resin or a curing agent. The nanocomposite contains less than 2% by weight solvent and less than 0.5% by weight dispersant based on the nanoparticle weight. A composite is also provided including from about 4 to 70 weight percent of spherical pyrogenic silica nanoparticles dispersed in a cured resin, and a filler embedded in the cured resin. Optionally, the composite further contains a curing agent. Further, a method of preparing a nanoparticle-containing curable resin system is provided including mixing from 10 to 70 weight percent of aggregated spherical pyrogenic silica nanoparticles with a curable resin to form a mixture. The mixture contains less than 2% by weight solvent and less than 0.5% by weight dispersant based on the nanoparticle weight. The method also includes milling the mixture in an immersion mill containing milling media to form a milled resin system including silica nanoparticles dispersed in the curable resin.

A composite ion exchange membrane obtainable by a process comprising reacting an ionically-charged membrane with a composition comprising: (a) a monofunctional ethylenically unsaturated monomer having an ionic charge opposite to the charge of the ionically-charged membrane; and (b) a crosslinking agent comprising two or more ethylenically unsaturated groups; wherein the molar ratio of (b):(a) is lower than 0.04 or is zero.

A composite ion exchange membrane comprising a cationically-charged membrane and an oppositely charged compound covalently bound thereto, the composite ion exchange membrane having: (i) a zeta-potential lower than ?8 mV; and (ii) an effective charge lower than 20 ?mol/m.sup.2.