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US 11,040,499 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for thermoforming an article
AssigneeBerry Global, Inc.
InventorsJonathan Eickhoff, Ryan Dewig, Jeffrey A. Mann, Roy E. Ackerman, Dan Eichelberger, Holden W. Barnes, Zachary L. Baughman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for thermoforming an article includes extruding a sheet of material, conditioning the sheet with a roller, thermoforming the sheet to provide a web, and cutting the web to provide the article.
Claims19
A method of providing a thermoformed article, the method comprising
- extruding a sheet comprising non-aromatic polymeric materials,
- conditioning the sheet with an outer surface of a rotating roller and at least a portion of the outer surface that contacts the sheet has a first surface roughness greater than or equal to about 100 Ra (microinches) and less than about 340 Ra (microinches) to block axial and circumferential movement of the sheet relative to a longitudinal axis of the rotating roller along a portion of the sheet contacted by the at least a portion of the outer surface,
- rotary thermoforming the sheet onto a mold to provide an article-blank web after conditioning the sheet, and
- cutting the article-blank web to provide the thermoformed article,
- wherein the thermoformed article has a clarity greater than about 54.6% as measured using ASTM D 1746.
2 more elements
A method of providing a thermoformed article, the method comprising
- extruding a sheet comprising polymeric materials,
- conditioning the sheet with an outer surface of a rotating roller and the outer surface of the rotating roller has a surface roughness of greater than or about 100 Ra (microinches) and less than about 340 Ra (microinches) to block axial and circumferential movement of the sheet relative to a longitudinal axis of the rotating roller,
- rotary thermoforming the sheet onto a mold to provide an article-blank web, and
- cutting the article-blank web to provide the thermoformed article having a clarity of about or greater than about 54.6% as measured using ASTM D 1746 and a haze of about or less than about 60% as measured using ASTM D 1003 procedure B.
1 more element
A method of providing a thermoformed article, the method comprising extruding a sheet comprising polymeric materials,
- extruding a sheet comprising polymeric materials,
- conditioning the sheet with an outer surface of a rotating roller and the outer surface of the rotating roller has a surface roughness of greater than or equal to about 100 Ra (microinches) and less than about 340 Ra (microinches) to block axial and circumferential movement of the sheet relative to a longitudinal axis of the rotating roller,
- rotary thermoforming the sheet onto a mold to provide an article-blank web, and
- cutting the article-blank web to provide the thermoformed article having a clarity of about or greater than about 54.6% as measured using ASTM D 1746,
- wherein the rotary thermoforming stage includes applying the sheet to a rotary thermoformer, the rotary thermoformer including a rotor mounted to rotate about a rotation axis of the rotary thermoformer, the mold which is coupled to the rotor for rotation therewith, and a curl-blocking strip coupled to the rotor and including a plurality of protrusions that extend radially outward away from the rotor toward the sheet to engage and block the sheet from curling away from the rotor during the rotary thermoforming stage.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.