Methods for extrusion of polyolefins (110) that utilize melt temperature to control molecular weight and also reduce gels. Disclosed herein is an example method for controlling polymer chain scission in an extrusion system (100), comprising: melting a polyolefin resin (110) in extruder (102) at a first melt temperature to form a first melt (112); passing the first melt (112) through a screen pack (106); forming the first melt 112) into a first polyolefin product (116, 118); melting additional polyolefin resin (110) of the same grade in the extruder (102) at a second melt temperature to form a second melt (112), wherein the second melt temperature differs from the first melt temperature by 5° C. or more to control chain scission in the extruder (102); passing the second melt (112) through the screen pack (106); and forming the second melt (112) into a second polyolefin product (116, 118).

Plastic containers exhibiting reduced plastic resin usage, while maintaining a specific gravity of below 1.0, so as to allow their quick and easy separation using floatation techniques during recycling. Within a layer or portion some of the plastic resin of the container body may be replaced with an inorganic mineral filler material, while within another layer or portion of the plastic container, the plastic material (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene) may be foamed. The fraction of mineral filler material that may be included within the polyethylene may thus be increased beyond that previously possible while maintaining the specific gravity below 1.0, by also foaming a layer or portion of the polymeric material, so as to create voids therein. This allows significantly less resin material to be employed, while maintaining strength characteristics of the plastic container so as to be at least comparable to existing plastic containers not including such mineral filler materials.

An apparatus for vacuumizing and sealing a package includes a plurality of platens and vacuum chambers, each chamber adapted to mate with a dedicated one of the platens; a conveying system for conveying the platens and chambers along a generally angular path having a single axis of rotation; an automated loading assembly having a linear component and configured to load a package onto each of the platens; an automated unloading assembly having a linear portion and configured to unload a vacuumized, sealed package from each loaded platen onto an outfeed conveyor; and a vacuumizing/sealing system configured to cause relative movement of each chamber/platen pair, along a portion of the angular path, to form therebetween an air-tight enclosure accommodating the package and effect vacuumization and sealing of the package.

An apparatus for vacuumizing and sealing a package includes a plurality of platens and vacuum chambers, each chamber adapted to mate with a dedicated one of the platens; a conveying system for conveying the platens and chambers along a generally angular path having a single axis of rotation; an automated loading assembly having a linear component and configured to load a package onto each of the platens; an automated unloading assembly having a linear portion and configured to unload a vacuumized, sealed package from each loaded platen onto an outfeed conveyor; and a vacuumizing/sealing system configured to cause relative movement of each chamber/platen pair, along a portion of the angular path, to form therebetween an air-tight enclosure accommodating the package and effect vacuumization and sealing of the package.

This application is directed to new and/or improved MD and/or TD stretched and optionally calendered membranes, separators, base films, microporous membranes, battery separators including said separator, base film or membrane, batteries including said separator, and/or methods for making and/or using such membranes, separators, base films, microporous membranes, battery separators and/or batteries. For example, new and/or improved methods for making microporous membranes, and battery separators including the same, that have a better balance of desirable properties than prior microporous membranes and battery separators. The methods disclosed herein comprise the following steps: 1.) obtaining a non-porous membrane precursor; 2.) forming a porous biaxially-stretched membrane precursor from the non-porous membrane precursor; 3.) performing at least one of (a) calendering, (b) an additional machine direction (MD) stretching, (c) an additional transverse direction (TD) stretching, and (d) a pore-filling on the porous biaxially stretched precursor to form the final microporous membrane. The microporous membranes or battery separators described herein may have the following desirable balance of properties, prior to application of any coating: a TD tensile strength greater than 200 or 250 kg/cm.sup.2, a puncture strength greater than 200, 250, 300, or 400 gf, and a JIS Gurley greater than 20 or 50 s.

Disclosed are a variable-temperature yarn with a continuous sense of cold and a manufacturing method thereof. A fiber of the variable-temperature yarn with a continuous sense of cold comprises a skin part and a core part, wherein the core part is wrapped in the skin part and is made of a PCM or phase-change energy-storage wax, and a cross-sectional area of the PCM or phase-change energy-storage wax accounts for 5%-70% of a cross-sectional area of the fiber. More PCMs can be directly injected into a fiber core, so that a textile product has a stronger sense of cold, the sense of continuous cold of the product is greatly improved, the requirement of users for cold experience is better met, and the market blank is filled.

A monolithic thermocasting system for thermocasting polymer and solid material and method of use having an internal frame system; an external frame system disposed external to the internal frame system; a mold cavity formed between the internal frame system and the external frame system, the mold cavity sized to receive the polymer and solid material and shaped to form an architectural member; a duct; and a heater element disposed in the duct for outputting thermal energy to the mold cavity to heat the polymer and solid material, the thermal energy being sufficient to thermocast the polymer and solid material to a combined building material.

A composition comprising a high molecular weight, chromium catalyzed ethylene copolymer (also referred to as a polyethylene resin), a nucleating agent and zinc oxide.

An electronic device module including a glass cover sheet, a polymeric front polymeric material, an electronic device, a polymeric back material and a backsheet, wherein the polymeric front and/or back materials have a trilayer structure including a back layer which is adhered to a surface of the electronic device, a front layer which is adhered to the glass cover sheet or the backsheet and an intermediate layer between the back layer and the front layer, wherein each of the back layer and the front layer includes an ethylene interpolymer grafted with silane, wherein the ethylene interpolymer grafted with silane has a density of at most 0.905 g/cm.sup.3, and the intermediate layer is a non-grafted ethylene interpolymer having a density of at most 0.905 g/cm.sup.3, which is crosslinked with the aid of a crosslinking initiator and optionally a crosslinking coagent, and optionally additives. A trilayer polymeric film having outer layers including ethylene interpolymers grafted with silanes and a non-grafted innerlayer containing a peroxide and UV stabilizer.

In the manufacture of extruded polymers there are a number of surface defects referred to as sharkskin, snakeskin and orange peel which all generally relate to the rheology of the polymer melt. A severe form of surface defect is “melt fracture” which is believed to result when the shear rate at the surface of the polymer is sufficiently high that the surface of the polymer begins to fracture. That is, there is a slippage of the surface of the extruded polymer relative to the body of the polymer melt. The surface generally can't flow fast enough to keep up with the body of the extrudate and a fracture in the melt occurs generally resulting in a severe loss of surface properties for the extrudate. A polymer extension process is disclosed wherein these undesirable surface defects are eliminated.