On the use of laser-scanning vibrometry for mechanical performance evaluation of 3D printed specimens

In this study, we explored the suitability of laser-scanning vibrometry (LSV) for evaluation of the mechanical behavior of rectangular prisms produced by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Our hypothesis was that LSV would be able to discriminate the mechanical behavior of specimens fabricated with different process parameters combinations. Build orientation, raster angle, nozzle temperature, printing speed and layer thickness were the process parameters of interest. Based on a factorial design of experiment approach, 48 different process parameter combinations were taken into account and 96 polylactic acid (PLA) rectangular prisms were fabricated. The characterization of their dynamical behavior provided frequency data, making possible the computation of an equivalent elastic modulus metric. Statistical analysis of the equivalent elastic modulus dataset confirmed the significant influences of raster angle, build orientation and nozzle temperature. Moreover, multivariate regression models served to rank, not only the significant influences of individual process parameters, but also the significant quadratic and cubic interactions between them. The previous knowledge was then applied to generate an ad hoc model selecting the most important factors (linear and interactions). The predicted equivalent elastic moduli provided by our ad hoc model were used in modal analysis simulations of both 3D printed rectangular prisms and a complex part. The simulated frequencies thus obtained were generally closer to the experimental ones (=11%), as compared to modal analysis simulations based on internal geometry modelling (=33%). The use of LSV appears very promising in the characterization of the mechanical behavior and integrity of 3D printed parts. Other additive manufacturing technologies may benefit from the use of this technique and from the adoption of the presented methodology to test, simulate and optimize the properties of 3D printed products. © 2021 The Author

Social Relations and Methods in Recommender Systems: A Systematic Review

With the constant growth of information, data sparsity problems, and cold start have become a complex problem in obtaining accurate recommendations. Currently, authors consider the user's historical behavior and find contextual information about the user, such as social relationships, time information, and location. In this work, a systematic review of the literature on recommender systems that use the information on social relationships between users was carried out. As the main findings, social relations were classified into three groups: trust, friend activities, and user interactions. Likewise, the collaborative filtering approach was the most used, and with the best results, considering the methods based on memory and model. The most used metrics that we found, and the recommendation methods studied in mobile applications are presented. The information provided by this study can be valuable to increase the precision of the recommendations

A note about the ground state of the H3+{\rm H}_3^+ hydrogen molecular ion

Three simple $7-, (7+3)-, 10-$parametric trial functions for the ${\rm H}_3^+$ molecular ion are presented. Each of them provides subsequently the most accurate approximation for the Born-Oppenheimer ground state energy among several-parametric trial functions. These trial functions are chosen following a criterion of physical adequacy and includes the electronic correlation in the exponential form $\sim\exp{(\gamma r_{12})}$, where $\gamma$ is a variational parameter. The Born-Oppenheimer energy is found to be $E=-1.340 34, -1.340 73, -1.341 59$\,a.u., respectively, for optimal equilateral triangular configuration of protons with the equilibrium interproton distance $R=1.65$\,a.u. The variational energy agrees in three significant digits (s.d.) with most accurate results available at present as well as for major expectation values.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 3 table

Improved wear performance of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene coated with hydrogenated diamond like carbon

Hydrogenated diamond like carbon (DLCH) thin films were deposited on medical grade ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The DLCH coating thicknesses ranged from 250 to 700. nm. The substrates were disks made of UHMWPEs typically used for soft components in artificial joints, namely virgin GUR 1050 and highly crosslinked (gamma irradiated in air to 100. kGy) UHMWPEs. Mechanical and tribological properties under bovine serum lubrication at body temperature were assessed on coated and uncoated polyethylenes by means of nano-hardness and ball-on-disk tests, respectively. Morphological features of the worn surfaces were obtained by confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This study confirms an increase in surface hardness and good wear resistance for coated materials after 24. h of sliding test compared to uncoated polyethylene. These results point out that to coat UHMWPE with DLCH films could be a potential method to reduce backside wear in total hip and knee arthroplasties.Ministerio de Ciencia y Educación MAT2006-12603- C02-01, CSD2008-0002