Method for transporting pellets of a glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic polymer composition from a loading position to an unloading position, said pellets comprising a core and a thermoplastic polymer sheath surrounding said core, wherein the core comprises glass fibres extending in a longitudinal direction of the pellets and an impregnating agent, the method comprising loading pellets onto a non-vibrating belt conveyor at said loading position, conveying the pellets by means of said non-vibrating belt convey—or to said unloading position and unloading the pellets from said non-vibrating belt conveyor at said unloading position. Further methods are claimed as regards a process for manufacturing pellets of a glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic polymer composition and a process for the manufacture at a moulding position of a moulded product from pellets of a glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic polymer composition.

Methods for generating patterned nanoparticle assemblies in thin films of supramolecular nanocomposites are provided that allow control over microdomain morphology, periodicity, and orientation by tuning the assembly kinetics and pathways of the system. Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) with nanoparticles formed on lithographically-patterned templates produce patterned supramolecular nanocomposite films and patterns of nanoparticles. DSA may be used to guide the formation of concentric rings with radii spanning approximately 150 nm to 1150 nm and ring widths spanning about 30 nm to 60 nm, for example. When plasmonic nanoparticles are used, ring nanodevice arrays can be fabricated in one step, and the completed devices produce high-quality orbital angular momentum (OAM).