Revealing the Hierarchical Microstructure of Innovative Additively Manufactured Metal Parts with Conventional Light Microscopy

Additively manufactured parts are characterized by a peculiar microstructure, originated by the distinctive layer-by-layer process. In case of additive technology based on the localized melting of a metallic feedstock, as laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF), the resulting microstructure has a hierarchical arrangement, consisting of macro- and microscopical features affecting the final properties. Commonly, several advanced metallographic techniques are adopted in order to reveal the LPBF microstructure. However, main microstructural features can be also qualitatively appreciated by means of conventional light microscopy. The present work aims at describing how the peculiar LPBF microstructure of the Co28Cr6Mo alloy can be characterized, along with its main microstructural features, by means of the sole light microscopy

Super-quadratic behavior of luminescence decay excited by energy-transfer upconversion

For several decades, energy-transfer upconversion (ETU) in rare-earth-ion doped systems [1,2] has attracted much attention, firstly, because of the fundamental interest in the physical nature of this process and, secondly, because of very practical considerations, namely the demonstration of near-infrared pumped visible light sources and, in reverse, the detrimental influence of ETU on the efficiency of infrared emitting systems.\ud We investigate fundamentally the behavior of infrared luminescence emitted directly from a metastable level and visible luminescence emitted after ETU from this level to higher-lying levels. Although these two luminescences are connected by the same metastable level and influenced by the same ETU process, the infrared luminescence probes all ions, while the visible luminescence probes only the class of ions susceptible to ETU [3]. A simple analytical model [4] predicts that such luminescence decay curves exhibit a super-quadratic dependence of upconversion on direct luminescence decay.\ud The Nd3+ ion can serve as a model system for such investigations. It exhibits strong ETU from the metastable 4F3/2 level. When doped into oxide matrices, the 4F3/2 level is the only metastable level. The Nd3+ energy levels excited by ETU decay by fast multiphonon relaxation and, hence, the weak visible fluorescence emitted from these levels represents a quasi instantaneous reaction on the dynamics of the 4F3/2 level. Experimental results obtained after pulsed laser excitation of Nd3+-doped oxide host materials show indeed a super-quadratic behavior of upconversion versus direct luminescence decay, in accordance with the model predictions [4].\ud \ud [1] F. Auzel, Proc. IEEE 1973, 6, 758\ud [2] J.C. Wright, Top. Appl. Phys. 1976, 15, 239\ud [3] M. Pollnau, D.R. Gamelin, S.R. Lüthi, H.U. Güdel, M.P. Hehlen, Phys. Rev. B 2000, 61, 3337\ud [4] M. Pollnau, J. Alloys Compd. 2002, 341, 5

Superquadratic behavior of upconversion luminescence transients in rare-earth-ion doped laser crystals

Inhomogeneous active-ion distributions in laser materials lead to strong deviations of upconversion versus direct luminescence transients from the quadratic law of energy-transfer upconversion. Measured luminescence decay curves in LaSc3(BO3)4:Nd3+ and GdVO4:Nd3+ confirm experimentally the predicted deviations. Differences in energy migration within the metastable level of Nd3+ are identified

Bitcoin as Safe Haven during Covid-19 Disease

In this paper, we investigate the role of Bitcoin as a safe haven against the stock market losses during the spread of COVID-19. The performed analysis was based on a regression model with dummy variables defined around some crucial dates of the pandemic and on the dynamic conditional correlations. To try to model the real dynamics of the markets, we studied the safe-haven properties of Bitcoin against thirteen of the major stock market indexes losses using daily data spanning from 1 July 2019 until 20 February 2021. A similar analysis was also performed for Ether. Results show that this pandemic impacts on the Bitcoin status as safe haven, but we are still far from being able to define Bitcoin as a safe haven

A System Proposal for Information Management in Building Sector Based on BIM, SSI, IoT and Blockchain

This work presents a Self Sovereign Identity based system proposal to show how Blockchain, Building Information Modeling, Internet of Thing devices, and Self Sovereign Identity concepts can support the process of building digitalization, guaranteeing the compliance standards and technical regulations. The proposal ensures eligibility, transparency and traceability of all information produced by stakeholders, or generated by IoT devices appropriately placed, during the entire life cycle of a building artifact. By exploiting the concepts of the Self Sovereign Identity, our proposal allows the identification of all involved stakeholders, the storage off-chain of all information, and that on-chain of the sole data necessary for the information notarization and certification, adopting multi-signature approval mechanisms where appropriate. In addition it allows the eligibility verification of the certificated information, providing also useful information for facility management. It is proposed as an innovative system and companies that adopt the Open Innovation paradigm might want to pursue it. The model proposal is designed exploiting the Veramo platform, hence the Ethereum Blockchain, and all the recommendations about Self Sovereign Identity systems given by the European Blockchain Partnership, and by the World Wide Web Consortium

Role of Direct Aging and Solution Treatment on Hardness, Microstructure and Residual Stress of the A357 (AlSi7Mg0.6) Alloy Produced by Powder Bed Fusion

Applying additive manufacturing (AM) technologies to the fabrication of aluminum automotive components, with an optimized design, may result in improved vehicle light weighting. However, the post-process heat treatment of such alloys has to be customized for the particular AM microstructure. The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of different heat treatments on the microstructure, hardness and residual stress of the A357 (AlSi7Mg0.6) heat-treatable alloy produced by laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF, also known as selective laser melting). There are two major issues to be addressed: (1) relieving the internal residual stress resulting from the process and (2) strengthening the alloy with a customized heat treatment. Therefore, stress-relief annealing treatment, direct aging of the as-built alloy and a redesigned T6 treatment (consisting of a shortened high-temperature solution treatment followed by artificial aging) were examined. Comparable hardness values were reached in the LPBF alloy with optimized direct aging and T6 treatments, but complete relief of the residual stress was obtained only with T6. Microstructural analyses also suggested that, because of the supersaturated solid solution, different phenomena were involved in direct aging and T6 treatment

A novel heat treatment of the additively manufactured Co28Cr6Mo biomedical alloy and its effects on hardness, microstructure and sliding wear behavior

Co28Cr6Mo alloy (ASTM F75 and F1537) is one of the standard biomaterials for permanent orthopedic implants, utilized especially in case of joint replacement, such as knee and ankle prostheses. At the present, innovative Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, such as laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF), also known as selective laser melting (SLM), enable the production of customized medical devices with improved mechanical properties. When dealing with implants for joint replacement, wear resistance is critical and, unlike compressive and tensile properties, the knowledge on wear behavior of the LPBF Co28Cr6Mo alloy is currently limited. Furthermore, the effect of post-process heat treatment on tribological properties, that have to be customized on the peculiar microstructure induced by LPBF, needs to be assessed. In this view, the present work first focuses on a novel direct aging treatment of the LPBF Co28Cr6Mo alloy, performed in the range 600-900 degrees C up to 180 min, and investigates the effects on hardness and microstructural features, with the optimized heat-treated condition found in case of 850 degrees C for 180 min aging treatment. Then, the attention is driven to the dry sliding wear behavior of as-built and heat-treated LPBF Co28Cr6Mo alloy, considering the conventional wrought alloy as benchmark. For testing conditions closer to the in-service ones, the as-built LPBF alloy showed a wear resistance higher than the conventional wrought alloy. The optimized aging treatment significantly modified the as-built LPBF microstructure, it improved the alloy hardness and, in general, it positively affected its friction and wear behavior

Blockchain and self sovereign identity to support quality in the food supply chain

This work presents how a digital identity management system can support food supply chains in guaranteeing the quality of the products marketed and the compliance of the several supplychain’s nodes to standards and technical regulations. Specific goal of this work is to present a system that provides full visibility of process/food certifications, which nowadays are issued by accredited and approved certification bodies (issuers) and delivered and stored in paper version by the several participants (holders) of the supply chain. The system is designed and implemented by combining the latest most innovative and disruptive technologies in the market—Self Sovereign Identity system, Blockchain, and Inter Planetary File System. The crucial aspects that it aims to hit are the storage and access of food/process certifications, and the proper eligibility verification of these certifications exploiting the concepts of the Self Sovereign Identity-based models. The proposed system, realized by using standards that are WWW Consortium-compatible and the Ethereum Blockchain, ensures eligibility, transparency, and traceability of the certifications along a food supply chain, and could be an innovation model/idea that the companies that adopt the Open Innovation paradigm might want to pursue

VvMYB60 expression is restricted to guard cells and correlates with stomatal conductance in the grape leaf

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is traditionally grown under non-irrigated field conditions in many cropping environments, including dry lands and semiarid regions. Good osmotic adjustment, architecture of the root system, xylem embolism and efficient stomatal control of water loss account for the drought resistance traits of the Vitis genus. Among these features, the regulation of stomatal activity is of particular relevance, as it directly shapes the isohydric versus anysohydric behaviour of different grape species and cultivars. Increasing evidence indicates a role for the transcriptional control of gene expression in modulating stomatal responses to both biotic and abiotic stimuli. R2R3 MYB transcription factors have been identified as key regulators of stomatal opening and transpirational water loss under stress in different plant species. We identified the grape gene VvMYB60 (VIT_08s0056g00800) as the functional ortholog of AtMYB60 (At1g08810), involved in the regulation of stomatal activity in Arabidopsis. Here, we report results from the analysis of VvMYB60 expression in the grape leaf, including: 1. The qPCR analyses of stomata-enriched grape epidermal fragments and lasermicrodissected guard cells; 2. The confocal analysis of grape leaves agro-infiltrated with the VvMYB60promoter::GFP construct; 3. The analysis of changes in VvMYB60 expression relatively to variations in stomatal conductance (gs) in plants grown under control or drought stress conditions. As a whole our data confirmed the guard cell-specificity of VvMYB60 expression in the grape leaf and revealed a positive correlation between gs and the relative abundance of the VvMYB60 transcripts, thus substantiating the notion of VvMYB60 being a transcriptional mediator of stomatal activity in grape

Laser induced fluorescence for axion dark matter detection: a feasibility study in YLiF4_4:Er3+^{3+}

We present a detection scheme to search for QCD axion dark matter, that is based on a direct interaction between axions and electrons explicitly predicted by DFSZ axion models. The local axion dark matter field shall drive transitions between Zeeman-split atomic levels separated by the axion rest mass energy $m_a c^2$. Axion-related excitations are then detected with an upconversion scheme involving a pump laser that converts the absorbed axion energy ($\sim$ hundreds of $\mu$eV) to visible or infrared photons, where single photon detection is an established technique. The proposed scheme involves rare-earth ions doped into solid-state crystalline materials, and the optical transitions take place between energy levels of $4f^N$ electron configuration. Beyond discussing theoretical aspects and requirements to achieve a cosmologically relevant sensitivity, especially in terms of spectroscopic material properties, we experimentally investigate backgrounds due to the pump laser at temperatures in the range $1.9-4.2$ K. Our results rule out excitation of the upper Zeeman component of the ground state by laser-related heating effects, and are of some help in optimizing activated material parameters to suppress the multiphonon-assisted Stokes fluorescence.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure