Moulding of articles
AssigneeNatural Resources (2000) Limited
InventorsAnthony Hardacre, Alan Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of forming a molded article includes preparing a fiber suspension by liquidizing fibrous material in a suspending liquid using at least one high shear mixer. The fiber suspension is fed to the molding surface of a porous mold. The suspending liquid is removed via the pores of the porous mold to deposit suspended fibers on the mold surface as a molded article. Removing the suspending liquid is achieved by pressing a bladder formed of a flexible impermeable membrane against the article using pressure applied behind the membrane. The molded article is removed from the porous mold dried using microwave radiation generated using at least one magnetron. A molding apparatus is use in the method and a molded article is produced by the method.
Claims15
A method of forming a moulded article comprising:
- preparing a fiber suspension by liquidising fibrous material in a suspending liquid using at least one high shear mixer, wherein the fibrous material is selected from the group consisting of:
- virgin paper fiber, recycled paper fiber, bamboo fiber and flax fiber, wherein suspended fibers have a length of 0.75 mm to 1.8 mm, and wherein the high shear mixer(s) comprises one or more rotors rotating at 1000-4000 rpm;
- feeding the fiber suspension to a moulding surface of a porous mould, the porous mold having pores with a diameter of 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm;
- removing said suspending liquid via pores of said porous mould to deposit the suspended fibers on said mould surface as a moulded article, the step of removing said suspending liquid comprising pressing a bladder formed of a resilient flexible impermeable membrane against the article using pressure applied behind the membrane;
- removing the moulded article from the porous mould;
- and
- drying the moulded article using microwave radiation generated using at least one magnetron.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.