Tear path products, method and apparatus

A method of forming a tear path within a molded material, comprising:

• selecting a material having molecular chains capable of being oriented with respect to each other as the material is solidifying;
• shaping said material into a solidified form, said shaping including cooling said material and reorienting said molecular chains, said shaping step including initially orienting said molecular chains generally axially and said reorienting step including changing said generally axial orientation;
• and
• treating a predetermined location on said solidifying material during such shaping, said treating step including dissipating heat at a rate faster than the rate at which said material is cooling, said heat dissipating rate being fast enough to significantly reduce said reorienting of the molecular chains during the shaping step to establish a tear path at said predetermined location, said heat dissipating step including touching the surface of said material which a contact area of a narrow cylinder having a thermal conductivity at least one thousand times greater than the thermal conductivity of copper.

A method of forming a tear path within a molded material, comprising:

• selecting a material having molecular chains capable of being oriented with respect to each other as the material is solidifying;
• shaping said material into a solidified form, said shaping including cooling said material and reorienting said molecular chains, said shaping step including initially orienting said molecular chains axially and said reorienting step including changing said generally axial orientation;
• and
• treating a predetermined location on said solidifying material during such shaping, said treating step including dissipating heat at a rate faster than the rate at which said material is cooling, said heat dissipating rate being fast enough to significantly reduce said reorienting of the molecular chains during the shaping step to establish a tear path at said predetermined location, said heat dissipating step including extracting heat at a rate of at least about 3 BTU per minute for a contact surface having an area substantially equivalent to that of a circle having a 1/4-inch diameter.

A method of forming a tear path within a molded material, comprising:

• selecting a material having molecular chains capable of being oriented with respect to each other as the material is solidifying;
• shaping said material into a solidified form, said shaping including cooling said material and reorienting said molecular chains, said shaping step including initially orienting said molecular chains generally axially and said reorienting step including changing said generally axial orientation;
• and
• treating a predetermined location on said solidifying material during such shaping, said treating step including dissipating heat at a rate faster than the rate at which said material is cooling, said heat dissipating rate being fast enough to significantly reduce said reorienting of the molecular chains during the shaping step to establish a tear path at said predetermined location, said heat dissipating step including extracting heat at a rate between about 5 to about 9 BTU per minute for a contact surface having an area substantially equivalent to that of a circle having a 1/4-inch diameter.

A method of forming a tear path within a molded material, comprising:

• selecting a material having molecular chains capable of being oriented with respect to each other as the material is solidifying;
• shaping said material into a solidifying form, said shaping including cooling said material and reorienting said molecular chains, said shaping step including initially orienting said molecular chains generally axially and said reorienting step including changing said generally axial orientation;
• and
• treating a predetermined location on said solidifying material during such shaping, said treating step including dissipating heat at a rate faster than the rate at which said material is cooling, said heat dissipating rate being fast enough to significantly reduce said reorienting of the molecular chains during the shaping step to establish a tear path at said predetermined location, said heat dissipating step including extracting heat at a rate between about 2 and about 5 BTU per minute for a contact surface having an area substantially equivalent to that of a circle having a 1/8-inch diameter.