The present invention provides a protective coating for protecting a substrate from deleterious elements present in environments in which the substrates are deployed and methods and apparatus for deploying a PVC encasement with a longitudinal snap jacket of suitable length and girth to coat a pylon substrate or building girder and provide a filler within the snap jacket and around an encased pylon.

A method of making a flexible medical article or tube, for example, a sheath for a vascular access device, is provided. The method can include extruding a polymer, for example, a polycarbonate-urethane copolymer, to form a tube and annealing the extruded polymer. The method can further include cutting the extruded tube to a desired length before or after annealing, flaring one end of the annealed tube and over-molding the flared portion onto a hub, and forming the other end of the tube into a tip. A sheath formed by such a method is also provided.

The invention relates to a blown film system for producing a film tube made of plastics material, comprising: an annular nozzle, out of which a plastic melt having a closed cross-section can be brought; a take-up device, by means of which the plastic melt can be drawn up from the direction of the annular nozzle so as to form the film tube; an air-provision device, which is downstream of the annular nozzle when viewed in the transport direction of the film tube and by means of which an amount of air can be provided; and a calibration device, which is downstream of the annular nozzle when viewed in the transport direction of the film tube and surrounds the film tube and by means of which the outer circumference of the film tube can be delimited. At least one detector is contained that has a plurality of detection elements, by means of which electromagnetic radiation emitted or reflected at various points of the film tube can be detected, such that at least one planar region and/or contoured region of the film tube can be detected with regard to characteristic properties, wherein the detector comprises at least 32 detection elements.

A composite tube includes a first layer including a cross-linked polyolefin elastomer, wherein the first layer is configured for fluid contact; and a second layer adjacent to the first layer, the second layer including an elastomer.

An extrusion system (100) according to certain aspects includes at least one infrared emitting device (102) arranged in a generally cylindrical shape with a hollow interior. The at least one infrared emitting device (102) is positioned downstream of an outlet of an extrusion die (110) to irradiate a perimeter of wet extrudate material in a uniform manner to form stiffened wet extrudate material (116) before such material is received by an extrudate support channel (118). The at least one infrared emitting device (102) generally uniformly stiffens the skin of the wet extrudate material (116) to resist mechanical deformation of the extrudate material during subsequent handling steps. Such skin stiffening allows for increased tolerance of handling forces and permits extrusion of softer wet extrudate material without compromising the shape of a fired ceramic product.

The invention provides a process of obtaining a bi-oriented co-extruded film of 7 layers by triple bubble process for autoclave sterilization processes, which unlike the current existing materials for food sterilization, the invention does not require an individual manufacturing process of each sheet and subsequent lamination, but it is manufactured in a single step, in addition no metal compound is included in its composition, and provides a shelf life of more than a year in food products that are packaged in the process of sterilization (retort) inside the film.

The continuity of a functional layer of a web (32, 60, 78) is assessed by forwarding the web, detecting (42, 63) the presence of the functional layer and a discontinuity and/or a thin region in the functional layer, and generating a signal in response to the discontinuity and/or thin region. The functional layer comprises a detectable component (360) in a thermoplastic composition. The detecting is carried out by a machine vision system capable of detecting the detectable component (360) in the functional layer. The detectable component (360) can be active or passive. Also included are systems for carrying out the process.

A coextruded, multi-layered, water vapor-impermeable, tubular, and seamless food casing having at least three layers is provided. The layers include at least one porous layer having a porous food contact side suitable for transferring food additives having a porous food contact side, at least one carrier layer based on at least one aliphatic and/or partially aromatic (co-)polyamide, and at least one water vapor-impermeable layer. At least one adhesive layer including an adhesion-promoting component is arranged between the adjoining layers or an adhesion-promoting component is contained in one or more of the water vapor-impermeable layer(s). At least one porous layer includes an aliphatic (co-)polyamide and a hydrophilic (co-)polymer having a mean molar mass M.sub.w of at least 8000 Da. A method for producing the food casing is provided. The food casing is used as an artificial sausage casing, especially, for cooked or boiled sausage.

An inventive transfer roller (1) is made of a foam formed from an electrically conductive rubber composition containing an electrically conductive rubber, a crosslinking component, and a foaming agent including OBSH and 0.25 to 2.5 parts by mass of sodium hydrogen carbonate based on 1 part by mass of OBSH, and has an Asker-C hardness of not lower than 25 degrees and not higher than 35 degrees and an average foam cell diameter of not greater than 120 μm. Therefore, the transfer roller is flexible with a lower rubber hardness, and has smaller foam cell diameters. An inventive production method includes the steps of: forming the electrically conductive rubber composition into a tubular body; and maintaining the tubular body at a temperature of not lower than 120° C. and not higher than 140° C. to foam the rubber by a single-stage foaming process.

The present invention relates to a metal matrix composite (MMC). The MMC includes a preform formed from a composition having ceramic particles and ceramic fibers and defining a plurality of voids. The metal matrix composite also includes a support element, such as a metal, disposed within the voids of the preform. The MMC has a wear surface defined by both the preform and the support element.