Abstract: Mats of aligned fibers are formed by feeding a dispersion of fibers through an aligning nozzle onto the inner surface of a cylindrical permeable surface and rotating the surface sufficiently rapidly to remove the dispersion medium and maintain the fiber alignment on the surface.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting a change in viscosity of a material, such as a molten plastics material, the change being from a highly fluid state to a high viscosity "set" state, comprising a probe, the combination comprising a motor such as an ironless motor for rotating said probe in a sample of the material and an operational amplifier having a feedback loop electrically connected to said motor, and means for measuring a parameter of the said combination, which parameter varies in accordance with the logarithm of the viscosity of said sample of material.

Abstract: Aligned fibre mats are produced by passing a continuously accelerating or decelerating stream of fibre dispersion over a permeable surface and simultaneously withdrawing a limited proportion of the dispersion liquid through the permeable surface to deposit aligned fibres thereon. Mats having a wide variety of shapes and alignment patterns may readily be produced and may subsequently be impregnated with resins, metals etc. to form fibre-reinforced composite materials.