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Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 19783

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Silvio Genna

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Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Impresa “Mario Lucertini”, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", via del Politecnico, 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
Interests: unconventional machining processes; electrodeposition technologies of innovative materials; simulation of manufacturing processes; characterization of composite material components; surface finishing of additive manufactured components
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, the need to obtain components with excellent properties represents a critical issue in many industrial fields. The present Special Issue aims to highlight the state-of-the-art research related to innovative technologies, manufacturing processes, and materials for high-performance components. Contributions may be related to conventional or unconventional processes, highlighting novel aspects of processing and manufacturing methods, coating technology, and materials that can be used to obtain high-performance components. In addition, computation methods (such as mathematical modeling, simulations, machine learning, optimization, and control) for estimation of the resulting material properties and contributions related to improving sustainability and reducing environmental impact are of interest.

Prof. Dr. Silvio Genna
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

processing
manufacturing
optimization
coating
surface
heat exchange
laser
graphene
joining

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1994 KiB

Open AccessArticle

FIMEC Test to Evaluate the Water Uptake of Coated and Uncoated CFRP Composites

by Francesco David, Patrizia Moretti, Vincenzo Tagliaferri and Federica Trovalusci

Materials 2020, 13(5), 1154; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13051154 - 5 Mar 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2029

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of the FIMEC (flat-top cylinder indenter for mechanical characterization) indentation test to evaluate the effect of water uptake on the mechanical properties of high-performance materials, in particular CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced polymer) composites. Coated and uncoated samples were analyzed. Silicon-based and siloxane coatings were formulated and applied to CFRP to reduce the moisture absorption of the material. The FIMEC test was adopted to study the reduction of the stiffness of CFRP plates for different ageing in water. The evolution of mechanical properties is reported as a function of the water uptake. IR analyses and weight variation measures were used as supporting data. Experimental results show that the FIMEC test is suitable to assess the stiffness reduction due to the aging in water and to identify coatings able to minimize the water uptake. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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11 pages, 3380 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Mechanical Characterization of Voronoi Structures Manufactured by Indirect Additive Manufacturing

by Daniele Almonti, Gabriele Baiocco, Vincenzo Tagliaferri and Nadia Ucciardello

Materials 2020, 13(5), 1085; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13051085 - 29 Feb 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 2990

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a production process for the fabrication of three-dimensional items characterized by complex geometries. Several technologies employ a localized melting of metal dust through the application of focused energy sources, such as lasers or electron beams, on a powder bed. Despite the high potential of AM, numerous burdens afflict this production technology; for example, the few materials available, thermal stress due to the focused thermal source, low surface finishing, anisotropic properties, and the high cost of raw materials and the manufacturing process. In this paper, the combination by AM of meltable resins with metal casting for an indirect additive manufacturing (I-AM) is proposed. The process is applied to the production of open cells metal foams, similar in shape to the products available in commerce. However, their cellular structure features were designed and optimized by graphical editor Grasshopper®. The metal foams produced by AM were cast with a lost wax process and compared with commercial metal foams by means of compression tests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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15 pages, 3179 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Fuzzy and Genetic Algorithm for the Optimisation of Hybrid Composite-Polymer Joints Obtained by Two-Step Laser Joining Process

by Gennaro Salvatore Ponticelli, Francesco Lambiase, Claudio Leone and Silvio Genna

Materials 2020, 13(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13020283 - 8 Jan 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2272

Abstract

In the present work, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic were combined to model and optimise the shear strength of hybrid composite-polymer joints obtained by two step laser joining process. The first step of the process consists of a surface treatment (cleaning) of the carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate, by way of a 30 W nanosecond laser. This phase allows removing the first matrix layer from the CFRP and was performed under fixed process parameters condition. In the second step, a diode laser was adopted to join the CFRP to polycarbonate (PC) sheet by laser-assisted direct joining (LADJ). The experimentation was performed adopting an experimental plan developed according to the design of experiment (DOE) methodology, changing the laser power and the laser energy. In order to verify the cleaning effect, untreated laminated were also joined and tested adopting the same process conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted to detect the statistical influence of the process parameters. Results showed that both the laser treatment and the process parameters strongly influence the joint performances. Then, an uncertain model based on the combination of fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms was developed and adopted to find the best process parameters’ set able to give the maximum joint strength against the lowest uncertainty level. This type of approach is especially useful to provide information about how much the precision of the model and the process varies by changing the process parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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21 pages, 5540 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental and Economic Analysis of FDM, SLS and MJF Additive Manufacturing Technologies

by Vincenzo Tagliaferri, Federica Trovalusci, Stefano Guarino and Simone Venettacci

Materials 2019, 12(24), 4161; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12244161 - 11 Dec 2019

Cited by 59 | Viewed by 4827

Abstract

In this study, the authors present a comparative analysis of different additive manufacturing (AM) technologies for high-performance components. Four 3D printers, currently available on the Italian national manufacturing market and belonging to three different AM technologies, were considered. The analysis focused on technical aspects to highlight the characteristics and performance limits of each technology, economic aspects to allow for an assessment of the costs associated with the different processes, and environmental aspects to focus on the impact of the production cycles associated with these technologies on the ecosystem, resources and human health. This study highlighted the current limits of additive manufacturing technologies in terms of production capacity in the case of large-scale production of plastic components, especially large ones. At the same time, this study highlights how the geometry of the object to be developed greatly influences the optimal choice between the various AM technologies, in both technological and economic terms. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the technology that exhibits the greatest limitations hindering mass production due to production times and costs, but also due to the associated environmental impact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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13 pages, 3987 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artificial Neural Network in Fibres Length Prediction for High Precision Control of Cellulose Refining

by Daniele Almonti, Gabriele Baiocco, Vincenzo Tagliaferri and Nadia Ucciardello

Materials 2019, 12(22), 3730; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12223730 - 12 Nov 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2527

Abstract

Paper, a web of interconnected cellulose fibres, is widely used as a base substrate. It has been applied in several applications since it features interesting properties, such as renewability, biodegradability, recyclability, affordability and mechanical flexibility. Furthermore, it offers a broad possibility to modify its surface properties toward specifics additives. The fillers retention and the fibres bonding ability are heavily affected by the cellulose refining process that influences chemical and morphological features of the fibres. Several refining theories were developed in order to determine the best refining conditions. However, it is not trivial to control the cellulose refining as different phenomena occur simultaneously. Therefore, it is intuitively managed by experienced papermakers to improve paper structures and properties. An approach based on the machine learning aimed at estimating the effects of refining on the fibres morphology is proposed in this study. In particular, an artificial neural network (ANN) was implemented and trained with experimental data to predict the fibres length as a function of refining process variables. The prediction of this parameter is crucial to obtain a high-performance process in terms of effectiveness and the optimisation of the final product performance as a function of the process parameter. To achieve these results, data mining of the experimental patterns collected was exploited. It led to the achievement of excellent performance and high accuracy in fibres length prediction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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Review

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44 pages, 47217 KiB

Open AccessReview

Friction Stir Welding and Friction Spot Stir Welding Processes of Polymers—State of the Art

by Francesco Lambiase, Hamed Aghajani Derazkola and Abdolreza Simchi

Materials 2020, 13(10), 2291; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13102291 - 15 May 2020

Cited by 63 | Viewed by 4526

Abstract

In the last decade, the friction stir welding of polymers has been increasingly investigated by the means of more and more sophisticated approaches. Since the early studies, which were aimed at proving the feasibility of the process for polymers and identifying suitable processing windows, great improvements have been achieved. This owes to the increasing care of academic researchers and industrial demands. These improvements have their roots in the promising results from pioneer studies; however, they are also the fruits of the adoption of more comprehensive approaches and the multidisciplinary analyses of results. The introduction of instrumented machines has enabled the online measurement of processing loads and temperature, and critical understanding of the principal aspects affecting the material flow and welds quality. Such improvements are also clearly demonstrated by the increase of the strength of recent joints (up to 99% of joining efficiency) as compared to those reached in early researches (almost 47%). This article provides a comprehensive review of the recent progresses on the process fundamentals, quality assessment and the influence of process parameters on the mechanical behavior. In addition, emphasis is given to new developments and future perspectives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Technologies and Materials for High-Performance Components)

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