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US 12,679,621 B2Granted
Single slit patterned, tension-activated, expanding articles
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsThomas R. Corrigan, Patrick R. Fleming, Anne C.F. Gold, Silvia G. Guttmann, Nicholas K. Lee, Dylan T. Cosgrove, Delony L. Langer-Anderson, Lisa M. Miller, Manoj Nirmal
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates generally to tension-activated, expanding articles that include single slit patterns. In some embodiments, these articles are used as cushioning films and/or packaging materials. The present disclosure also relates to methods of making and using these tension-activated, expanding articles.
Claims20
An expanding material having a pretensioned state defining a pretensioned plane, comprising:
- a material including a plurality of slits that form a single slit pattern, wherein the material defines a tension axis;
- wherein the material is substantially in a plane in the pretensioned state but wherein the single slit pattern enables at least portions of the material to rotate at least 90 degrees relative to the pretensioned plane when tension is applied along a tension axis of the material to form a three-dimensional structure,
- wherein each of the plurality of single slits comprises a first terminal end and a second terminal end,
- wherein the single slit pattern includes a plurality of folding walls formed by the path of each of the plurality of slits and an imaginary straight line connects the first and second terminal ends of each of the slits in the plurality of the slits in a row, and
- wherein the imaginary straight lines in a row of slits are all colinear with one another but not with a region of each of the slits between the terminal ends.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.