Search

In the present paper the Continuous Friction Stir Extrusion process (CFSE), derived from the already known Friction Stir Extrusion (FSE), is proposed for effective solid-state recycling of metal scraps. A new dedicated machine tool was designed and developed. A Lagrangian implicit thermomechanical numerical model was set up and used to determine the proper ranges of the most relevant process parameters. An effective case study is proposed, involving the actual extrusion of a recycled wire in a continuous way. Metallurgical observations and mechanical characterization tests were carried out on the obtained specimen showing the potential of the process and its industrial feasibility.(c) 2023 CIRP.

Aluminum Lithium alloys are recuperating substantial interest from automotive and aerospace industries owing to their extraordinary specific strength as compared to conventional aluminum (2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx) alloys. The goal of the present investigation is to study AA 8090 joints produced with the unique solid-state welding technique friction stir welding (FSW). Tool pin profile induces remarkable influence on friction and further plastic deformation during FSW. Therefrom, the influences of three distinct but constant dynamic area conditioned tool pin geometries namely, square trapezoidal, hexagonal trapezoidal, and threaded taper on the resulting material flow patterns, mechanical properties, and the microstructure have been studied and discussed in detail. The FSW joint produced with hexagonal trapezoidal pin geometry delivered the highest joint resistance owing to grain refinement and almost flawless microstructure.

Simple Summary The Alps are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change, as these modifications take place at a faster pace at higher elevations. Since butterflies are ideal model systems to investigate species responses to climate and habitat changes, we monitored a butterfly community of the Valasco valley in the Maritime Alps (NW Italy) by three sampling events covering a period longer than 40 years. We observed an overall increase in mobile, tolerant and thermophilous species, which eventually might cause an overall loss of community distinctiveness. The variations observed in the butterfly community can be explained by the notable increase in maximum temperatures and the reduction of grasslands, along with the increase of woodlands, supporting the hypothesis that local warming and land-use changes have ultimately affected the butterfly community composition. Abstract Our work aims to assess how butterfly communities in the Italian Maritime Alps changed over the past 40 years, in parallel with altitudinal shifts occurring in plant communities. In 2019, we sampled butterflies at 7 grassland sites, between 1300–1900 m, previously investigated in 2009 and 1978, by semi-quantitative linear transects. Fine-scale temperature and precipitation data elaborated by optimal interpolation techniques were used to quantify climate changes. The changes in the vegetation cover and main habitat alterations were assessed by inspection of aerial photographs (1978–2018/1978–2006–2015). The vegetation structure showed a marked decrease of grassland habitats and an increase of woods (1978–2009). Plant physiognomy has remained stable in recent years (2009–2019) with some local exceptions due to geomorphic disturbance. We observed butterfly ‘species substitution’ indicating a general loss in the more specialised and a general gain in more tolerant elements. We did not observe any decrease in species richness, but rather a change in guild compositions, with (i) an overall increased abundance in some widespread and common lowland species and (ii) the disappearance (or strong decrease) of some alpine (high elevation) species, so that ‘resilience’ could be just delusive. Changes in butterfly community composition were consistent with predicted impacts of local warming.

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) is an emerging alternative treatment for those patients not qualified for surgery. However, TMVR can determine an obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract (namely, neo-LVOT) induced by the transcatheter heart valve (THV) displacing the native mitral valve leaflet towards the myocardial wall. This condition can lead to haemodynamic impairment and ultimately patient death. We sought to predict the neo-LVOT obstruction by first developing patient-specific simulations of the THV deployment and then comparing predictions with post-TMVR diagnostic images and 3D printed human models. Using pre-TMVR computed-tomography (CT) imaging, patient-specific anatomies of two patients were reconstructed and then meshed with ABAQUS/Explicit solver. The latter was used to simulate the crimping and deployment of SAPIEN 3 THV (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) and then simulate the cardiac beating. The neo-LVOT cross sectional area was then computed. For both patients, rigid heart models were printed with SLS rapid prototyping technology while the SAPIEN 3 device was printed with flexible resin to manually positioning the device in the human host. Numerical predictions and 3D printed model measurements of neo-LVOT area agreed well with those obtained by post-TMVR CT imaging. Both computational modelling and 3D printing revealed a comprehensive assessment of the TMVR feasibility, which is not readily conferred by conventional CT imaging. Particularly, the realistic printed models could become an efficient and indispensable tool to help the heart team visualizing the LVOT obstruction to anatomical scale, in a life-size replica of patient-specific cardiac anatomy.

Titanium alloy Ti6Al4V is one of the most utilized alloys in the field of additive manufacturing due to the excellent combination of mechanical properties, density and good corrosion behavior. These characteristics make the use of this material particularly attractive for additively manufacturing components with complex geometry in sectors such as aeronautics and biomedical. Selective Laser Melting (SLM), by which a component is fabricated by selectively melting of stacked layers of powder using a laser beam, is the one of most promising additive manufacturing technologies for Ti6Al4V alloy. Although this technique offers numerous advantages, it has some critical issues related to the high thermal gradients, associated with the process, promoting the formation of a metastable martensitic microstructure resulting in high tensile strength but poor ductility of the produced parts. The formation of microstructural defects such as balling and porosity can occur together with the presence of residual stresses that may significantly affect the mechanical characteristics of the component. Specific process parameters and geometries can determine heat accumulation phenomena that result in a progressive decrease in thermal gradients between layers. These heat accumulation phenomena are influenced by the number of layers deposited, but also by the building orientation that, for a given geometry, determines a variation of the deposited surface for each layer. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.

The growing demand for more environmentally friendly vehicles has led to an increased use of light materials in the transportation industry with the aim to reduce structural weight, fuel consumption, and gas emissions, thereby boosting cost-effectiveness and recyclable properties. Complex multi-material steel-based components would allow to improve mechanical properties and minimize weight even further. In particular, new sandwich materials made by steel outer skins and a polymeric internal layer seems very promising for obtaining mechanical performance and lightness at the same time. Unfortunately, traditional welding techniques, like arc welding, laser welding, and resistance spot welding, usually used to join steels and aluminum alloys, cannot be applied for these materials due to their peculiar nature. In this paper, the feasibility of Friction Stir Welding to join thin sandwich components made of two steel outer layers and an internal polymeric layer was assessed. Both a pin and a pinless tool were used to weld the upper and the lower surface of the joint in order to obtain solid state bonding of the metal and fusion welding of the polymer at the same time. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 23rd International Conference on Material Forming.

Italy is among the European countries with the greatest plant diversity due to both a great environmental heterogeneity and a long history of man–environment interactions. Trait-based approaches to ecological studies have developed greatly over recent decades worldwide, although several issues concerning the relationships between plant functional traits and the environment still lack sufficient empirical evaluation. To draw insights on the association between plant functional traits and direct and indirect human and natural pressures on the environmental drivers, this article summarizes the existing knowledge on this topic by reviewing the results of studies performed in Italy adopting a functional trait approach on vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Although we recorded trait measurements for 1418 taxa, our review highlighted some major gaps in plant traits knowledge: Mediterranean ecosystems are poorly represented; traits related to belowground organs are still overlooked; traits measurements for bryophytes and lichens are lacking. Finally, intraspecific variation has been little studied at community level so far. We conclude by highlighting the need for approaches evaluating trait–environment relationship at large spatial and temporal scales and the need of a more effective contribution to online databases to tie more firmly Italian researchers to international scientific networks on plant traits.