Figure 1
The diagram contains two labeled sections. The first section (a) at the top shows three stages of a molding process. The three stages are present from left to right. Stage 1, labeled “heated mold,” shows a dark upper mold above a layer stack and a dark bottom mold, with spacing between the molds. Stage 2, labeled “pressing,” shows the upper and bottom molds pressing the layers together. Stage 3, labeled “laminate removal plus curing and solidification,” shows the molds separated and a single flat laminate to the right. The second section (b) at the bottom shows three stacked laminate illustrations. Each stack alternates yellow-labeled Aramid and teal-labeled T P U film layers. From left to right, the first stack is labeled “K 8 underscore 1 P U,” the second is labeled “K 8 2 P U,” and the third is labeled “K 8 3 P U.” The size of the stack increases from left to right. Below each stack is a microstructural image. The first image is labeled “K 8 1 P U” in the upper left corner and displays horizontal irregular yellow lines with darker gaps between them. A rectangular scale bar at the bottom right corner reads “500 micrometers.” The second microstructural image is labeled “K 8 2 P U” and shows similar horizontal yellow bands with darker gaps. A rectangular scale bar at the bottom right corner reads “500 micrometers.” The third microstructural image is labeled “K 8 underscore 3 P U” and contains thicker yellow horizontal bands separated by darker gaps. A rectangular scale bar at the bottom right corner reads “500 micrometers.”(a) Hot press forming cycle and (b) illustration of the laminate configurations and the optical microscopy images on cross-section