Environmental and Economic Impact of an Innovative Biocide-Free Antifouling Coating for Naval Applications.

The work provides an economic sustainability and environmental impact analysis for the validation of a biocide-free antifouling coating for marine applications able to reduce fuel consumption during navigation, CO emissions, and the overall environmental impacts associated with shipping, thanks to the reduction of incrustation and the avoidance of biocides release into the water. The results, related to the life cycle of the coating of a motor yacht, with an average sailing life of 25 years, show around 8.8% reduction in overall costs compared to a conventional paint, thanks to a more efficient antifouling action, which reduces the annual fuel consumption by ~13,700 kg/y, or ~9.

Soft Computing Techniques for Laser-Induced Surface Wettability Control.

Making decisions and deducing control actions in manufacturing environments requires considering many uncertainties. The ability of fuzzy logic to incorporate imperfect information into a decision model has made it suitable for the optimization of both productivity and final quality. In laser surface texturing for wettability control, in fact, these aspects are governed by a complex interaction of many process parameters, ranging from those connected with the laser source to those concerning the properties of the processed material.

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

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.

Influence of Thermal Contact Resistance of Aluminum Foams in Forced Convection: Experimental Analysis.

In this paper, the heat transfer performances of aluminum metal foams, placed on horizontal plane surface, was evaluated in forced convection conditions. Three different types of contacts between the sample and the heated base plate have been investigated: simple contact, brazed contact and grease paste contact. First, in order to perform the study, an ad hoc experimental set-up was built.