CONTINUOUS ROTARY THERMOFORMER

摘要

An apparatus for thermoforming a thermoplastic article comprises an extrusio n die for extruding a sheet of thermoplastic and a rotating wheel having at least one mold member. The mold member includ es a male mold or forming cavity for receiving at least a portion of a substantially non-oriented (i.e., non- tensioned) thermoplastic sheet. The mold member is selectively heated and/or cooled during thermoforming to maintain the sheet in a molten or thermoformable state. The mold member also comprises a stripper plate maintained at a predetermined temperature or temperature distribution for inducing a predetermined degree of crystallinity to the sheet. The stripper plate enables the articles to be separated from the mold without distortion. In one embodiment, the thermoformed article has at least two and preferably at least three distinct regions of thermally-induced crystallinity.