A method for fabricating polymeric sheets containing microwires includes encapsulating at least a portion of individual lengths of a plurality of microwires in a non-conductive polymeric sheet while the microwires are attached to the substrate. The microwires are then detached from the substrate without removing the microwires from the polymeric sheet. The detaching step forms a separated polymeric sheet containing the detached microwires. Individual detached microwires of the plurality are approximately perpendicular to the separated polymeric sheet. A microwire array device includes a non-conductive polymeric sheet and a plurality of microwires. Individual microwires of the plurality have an independent length at least partially encapsulated by the polymeric sheet, are approximately perpendicular to the polymeric sheet, and contain magnetic ferrite.

A polymer layer includes a first in-plane refractive index extending along a first direction of the polymer layer, a second in-plane refractive index less than the first in-plane refractive index extending along a second direction of the polymer layer orthogonal to the first direction, a third refractive index along a direction orthogonal to both the first direction and the second direction, and a plurality of wrinkles extending along a surface of the polymer layer, where a difference between the first in-plane refractive index and the second in-plane refractive index is at least approximately 0.05, and the third refractive index is greater than the second in-plane refractive index.

The present invention relates to a method for the production of injection-moulded, reinforced moulded parts, the fibre orientation of which is specifically adjusted on a local basis. Via suitable, dynamically controlled supplementary heating in the wall of the injection mould which is used (variotherm heatable channel), a local cavity region is hereby heated at the time of injection to a temperature in the region of or above the solidification temperature (in any case above the crystallisation temperature in the case of partially crystalline plastic materials or above the glass transition temperature in the case of amorphous plastic materials) of the polymer (plastic material moulding compound).

In an injection molded product of the invention, an unevenness forming portion having unevenness formed by thermal expansion of thermally expandable capsules is formed. The injection molded product includes a highly expanded portion that is formed at a surface side of the unevenness forming portion in a thickness direction of the injection molded product and in which the thermally expandable capsules are thermally expanded, and a main body portion that is a portion adjacent to the highly expanded portion in the thickness direction and in which the thermally expandable capsules are substantially not thermally expanded. The thickness of the highly expanded portion is a half or smaller than the thickness of the injection molded product in the unevenness forming portion, and a polymer material of the highly expanded portion and a polymer material of the main body portion are the same polymer material.

In one embodiment, a method includes fastening a plurality of components of a composite structure in an assembly fixture, wherein the assembly fixture comprises a plurality of strands of a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material, wherein the fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material comprises a thermoplastic embedded with a plurality of reinforcement fibers, wherein the plurality of reinforcement fibers is aligned within each strand of the plurality of strands, and wherein the assembly fixture further comprises an anisotropic thermal expansion property based on an orientation of the plurality of reinforcement fibers within the assembly fixture; and heating the assembly fixture in an autoclave to bond the plurality of components of the composite structure.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a heart valve, comprising: a step of injection moulding a first part (110) of the heart valve from a first block-copolymer, wherein the injection moulding is performed at a temperature below an order-disorder transition temperature of the block copolymer, such that a phase structure is present in the molten block-copolymer; a step of injection moulding a second part (114) of the heart valve from a second block-copolymer that is different to the first block-copolymer, by over-moulding over the first part (110) to form an over-moulded structure, wherein the injection moulding is performed at a temperature below order-disorder transition temperatures for the first and second block copolymers, such that a phase structure is present in the molten second block-copolymer and remains present in the first block-copolymer; and a step of cooling the over-moulded structure, without heating it above the order-disorder transition temperatures between the step of injection moulding the second part (114) and the step of cooling, so as to preserve an arrangement of the phase structures created during the steps of injection moulding and produce anisotropic physical properties in the second part (114). The invention also relates to the thus manufactured heart valve.

Systems, devices and methods are provided for fabricating anisotropic polymer materials. According to various embodiments, a fluidic device is employed to distribute a polymer solution and a flow-confining solution in order to generate a layered flow, where the layered flow is formed such that a polymer liquid sheet is sheathed on opposing sides by flow-confining liquid sheets. The fluidic device includes first and second fluid conduits, where the first fluid conduit receives the layered flow. The second fluid conduit has a reduced height relative to the first fluid conduit, such that the layered flow is constricted as it flows through the second fluid conduit. The constriction formed by the second flow conduit causes hydrodynamic focusing, reducing the thickness of the polymer liquid sheet, and inducing molecular alignment and anisotropy within the polymer liquid sheet as it is hardened and as strain is applied during extrusion of the sheet.

A constant force expansion construct includes a plurality of expandable layers, each expandable layer including: (a) a longitudinal restricting beam; and (b) a plurality of interconnected flexible biasing struts connecting the longitudinal restricting beam of one expandable layer to another longitudinal restricting beam in a next adjacent expandable layer, the biasing struts being biased toward a compressed position and being movable between the compressed position and an expanded position in which a distance between successive longitudinal restricting beams is increased.

There is provided a method of forming a patterned anisotropic-comprising composite material, comprising inserting at least a part of a heated probe into a matrix to induce a local phase change around the probe within the matrix, the matrix being a matrix of thermo-reversible material and anisotropic fillers, and moving the heated probe within the matrix to form an alignment pattern of the anisotropic fillers comprised in the matrix. There is also provided a patterned anisotropic-comprising composite material formed from the method.

Provided is a method for producing a light absorption anisotropic film having a three-dimensional shape and having excellent alignment, which is capable of manufacturing a light absorption anisotropic film having a high degree of polarization even where a three-dimensional shape is provided by heating molding. The method includes a step of producing an intermediate laminate having an optical coating film formed using a liquid crystal composition containing a liquid crystalline compound and a dichroic substance, and an alignment film; a step of heating the intermediate laminate produced by the film forming step to impart a three-dimensional shape; an aligning step of aligning a liquid crystalline component included in the optical coating film in the intermediate laminate imparted with the three-dimensional shape by the heating molding step to produce a light absorption anisotropic film; and a step of curing the light absorption anisotropic film produced by the aligning step.