National Research Development Corporation

Btg International Limited

British Technology Group Limited

Propex Operating Company, LLC

Other

Smith + Nephew

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation

Dow Global Technolgoies LLC

The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Celgard Inc.

University of Leeds

Canco Hungary Investment Ltd.

Leeds Lithium Power Limited

Eovations, LLC

Ian MacMillan Ward

Peter John Hine

Keith Norris

Mark James Bonner

Giancarlo Capaccio

Alan Selwood

Glen Peter Thompson

Richard Albert Jones

Gordon Craggs

James E McIntyre

Ajay Kumar Taraiya

Mason James Bettenga

John Rose

Kevin Louis Nichols

Zahir Bashir

Malcolm Brown

Brett M Birchmeier

Horacio Montes De Oca Balderas

Michael Andrew Hall

Francis S Smith

Phil Caton-Rose

Philip D Coates

Anthony Paul Unwin

Victor Rogers

Rajen M Patel

Martin H Tusim

Paul L Carr

Leslie N Phillips

Kevin L Nichols

Ignaas Verpoest

Jerry Barker

John C McGrath

Larissa Gorbatikh

Noe H Ladizesky

Gianlarlo Capaccio

Hugh Vyvyan Hubbard

Hugh V St Aubyn Hubbard

Anthony K Powell

Denis W Woods

Yentl Swolfs

Hugh Hubbard

Simon Charles Wellings

Vijay Wani

Hugh V S Hubbard

William F Tyldesley

Brain Parsons

Ja'Faar B Sahari

Dennis J Bannister

Peter G Hall

Geoffrey R Davies

Walter K Busfield

Peter J Hine

Glen P Thompson

Hugh Vyvyan St Aubyn Hubbard

W F Pelikon Unit 5 Tyldesley

Paul Lambton Carr

The present invention provides novel hybrid self-reinforced composites, combining an oriented brittle fibre and an oriented thermoplastic polymeric ductile fibre (as reinforcement phase) in the same thermoplastic polymeric matrix phase. The hybrid self-reinforced composites are strong and stiff, but in case of impact or crash they have high strain to failure and absorb a lot of energy. The present invention also relates to methods to produce said hybrid self-reinforced composites by a hot compaction technique.

Hybrid self-reinforced composite material

A process for the production of a polymeric article directed to (a) forming a ply having successive layers, namely, (i) a first layer made up of strands of an oriented polymer material; (ii) a second layer of a polymeric material; (iii) a third layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material, wherein the second layer has a lower peak melting temperature that of the first and third layers; (b) subjecting the ply to conditions of time, temperature, and pressure sufficient to melt a proportion of the firsts layer to melt the second layer entirely, and to melt a proportion of the third layer, and to compact the ply; and (c) cooling the compacted ply. The resultant articles have good mechanical properties yet may be made at a lower compaction temperature than articles not employing the second layer, leading to a more controllable manufacturing process.

Process for fabricating polymeric articles

The present disclosure relates to a shape memory polymer material containing at least one two dimensional region having a first amount of stored stress in a first direction and a second amount of stored stress higher than the first amount of stored stress in a second direction, wherein the two dimensional region is capable of changing shape in only one of the first or second directions.

Orientated polymeric devices

The present invention provides an electrolyte component containing one or more salts including lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB), a solvent, propylene carbonate (PC) and a crystallizable polymer wherein said LiBOB is present as a weight percentage of 0.5% or more, said propylene carbonate is present as a weight percentage of between 5% and 90% and the crystallizable polymer is present at a weight percentage of greater than 1%. It also provides a galvanic cell formed from the above and a process for forming same.

Galvanic cells and components therefor

The invention relates to a process for making an opaque and glossy film from a thermoplastic polyester composition, comprising the steps of a) extruding the polyester composition through a slot die, and quenching to form a substantially amorphous film having a crystallinity of at most 5%; b) rapidly heating the amorphous film to a drawing temperature in the range from Tto (T+50)&#xb0; C. while applying a draw ratio in the range of from &#x3bb;to &#x3bb;in longitudinal direction, and a drawing rate of at least 1 m/min to form an oriented film showing stress-whitening, wherein &#x3bb;is the draw ratio at which a transfer from a transparent product to a stress-whitened product occurs and &#x3bb;is the draw ratio at which failure of the stress whitened film occurs; and c) heat-setting the oriented stress-whitened film; the thermoplastic polyester composition substantially consisting of at least one crystallizable polyester derived from at least one aliphatic diol and at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid. With this process it is possible to make a unitary, glossy, opaque film from a polyester composition that does not contain void-forming additives like high amounts of fine pigment particles or dispersed non-miscible polymer particles. The film obtained also has very good mechanical properties. It is a further advantage that the process can be performed continuously on conventional extrusion and stretching equipment used for making transparent film from polyesters. The invention also relates to an opaque polyester film obtainable by said process.

Process for making opaque polyester film

A process for the production of a polymeric article comprises: (a) forming a ply having successive layers, namely, (i) a first layer made up of strands of an oriented polymer material; (ii) a second layer of a polymeric material; (iii) a third layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material, wherein the second layer has a lower peak melting temperature that of the first and third layers; (b) subjecting the ply to conditions of time, temperature, and pressure sufficient to melt a proportion of the fits layer, to melt the second layer entirely, and to melt a proportion of the third layer, and to compact the ply; and (c) cooling the compacted ply. The resultant articles have good mechanical properties yet may be made at a lower compaction temperature than articles not employing the second layer, leading to a more controllable manufacturing process.

Interlayer hot compaction

The invention relates to a Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container (FIBC) having a body made of flexible woven fabric, and integral handling devices, wherein the fabric is woven from opaque oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) strips having a density of from 500 to 1300 kg/mand a tensile strength of at least 250 MPa. Advantages of said FIBC include directly printability with the usual type of inks, giving excellent contrast and good adhesion, without pre-treatment like a corona- or flame-treatment. The FIBC based on the PET fabric also shows higher gloss; better UV resistance; better mechanical properties, like high tensile strength and creep resistance; favorable abrasion resistance; and higher temperature resistance than a conventional big bag based on polypropylene strips. The invention further relates to such a FIBC based on stress-whitened PET tapes obtained by a special drawing process.

Flexible intermediate bulk container

A process for the production of a polymeric article comprises the steps of: (a) forming a ply having successive layers, namely (ii) a first layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material; (ii) a second layer of a polymeric material; (iii) a third layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material, wherein the second layer has a lower peak melting temperature than that of the first and third layers; (b) subjecting the ply to conditions of time, temperature and pressure sufficient to melt a proportion of the first layer, to melt the second layer entirely, and to melt a proportion of the third layer; and to compact the ply; and (c) cooling the compacted ply. The resultant articles have good mechanical properties yet may be made at lower compaction temperatures than articles not employing the second layer, leading to a more controllable manufacturing process.

An oriented polymer composition containing thirty to 95 weight-percent inert inorganic filler and a continuous phase of at least one orientable polymer contains void spaces due to cavitation and has a density of less than 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter, a flexural modulus of 1.4 gigapascals or more, cross section dimensions all greater than 1.5 millimeters, a delamination force value of 44.5 Newtons (ten pounds force) or more and little or no blowing agent.

Low density oriented polymer composition with inert inorganic filler

Process for the production of a polymeric article by: (a) forming a ply having successive layers, namely (i) a first layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material; (ii) a second layer of a polymeric material; (iii) a third layer made up of strands of an oriented polymeric material, wherein the second layer has a lower peak melting temperature than that of the first and third layers; (b) subjecting the ply to conditions of time, temperature and pressure sufficient to melt a proportion of the first layer, to melt the second layer entirely, and to melt a proportion of the third layer; and to compact the ply; and (c) cooling the compacted ply. The resultant articles have good mechanical properties yet may be made at lower compaction temperatures than articles not employing the second layer, leading to a more controllable manufacturing process.

A process of production of a monolithic article from a web of fibres of oriented polypropylene polymer, comprising the steps of subjecting the web to elevated temperature and pressure sufficient to melt a proportion of the polymer and compact it, and then cooling the compacted web, wherein an accelerated rate of cooling is employed down to 100&#xb0; C. The process is of particular benefit when the weight average molecular weight (M) of the fibers is 250,000 or below. The resultant articles have good stiffness and strength, yet with reasonable ductility. Similar articles cooled slowly are brittle.

Process for fabricating polypropylene sheet

An inventive solid state drawing die has shaping walls that define a shaping channel and that, in the course of solid state drawing, direct polymer composition along a drawing path. Each cross section of the drawing path (and, hence, polymer composition in the drawing path) is non-circular, substantially proportional to one another, contains a centroid that lies on a substantially straight line parallel to the drawing direction and all cross sectional dimensions are 1.5 millimeters or more.

Substantially proportional drawing die for polymer compositions

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Leeds, United Kingdom

Ian MacMillan Ward