Abstract: A sealant applicator nozzle, of the present technology, has a fan-shaped profile, with a broad concave arc that defines a distal end of the nozzle and provides the nozzle with a tooling edge. The concave tooling edge, along with the outlet orifice, and two surface-contact edges are positioned to equidistantly straddle a lap joint to be sealed when in operation. In methods of using the nozzle, a wide ribbon of sealant is applied in a smoothly arched geometry, forming a segment of a circle, over a lap joint so that the thickest part of the arch is centered directly on the edge of the overlapping material that forms the lap joint.

Abstract: A sealant applicator nozzle, of the present technology, has a fan-shaped profile, with a broad concave arc that defines a distal end of the nozzle and provides the nozzle with a tooling edge. The concave tooling edge, along with the outlet orifice, and two surface-contact edges are positioned to equidistantly straddle a lap joint to be sealed when in operation. In methods of using the nozzle, a wide ribbon of sealant is applied in a smoothly arched geometry, forming a segment of a circle, over a lap joint so that the thickest part of the arch is centered directly on the edge of the overlapping material that forms the lap joint.

Abstract: A process of forming a single color, ablation image having improved abrasion resistance having the following steps: a) imagewise-heating, by a laser, an ablative recording element having a support having thereon an image layer having a colorant dispersed in a polymeric binder, which causes the image layer to ablate imagewise, the image layer having a near infrared-absorbing material associated therewith to absorb at a given wavelength of the laser used to expose the element, the image dye or pigment absorbing in the region of from about 300 to about 700 nm; and b) laminating a coating having polymeric particles dispersed in a binder to the surface of the ablative image under heat and pressure so that the particles will fuse into a continuous overcoat layer.