2012

Semiconducting oxide gas sensors based on La0.8Sr0.2Fe1−xCuxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10) (LSF, LSFC05, and LSFC10, respectively) were prepared by screen-printing for humidity detection at room temperature. The thick-films were heat-treated at 800, 900 and 1000 °C for 1 h and all the compositions proved to be effective in humidity sensing and presented a good reproducibility between several measurements.

The on-going research on carbon nano beads (CNBs) are focusing on applications ranging from high strength composites, catalyst carriers, lubricants, electronic devices, weather resistant materials, molecular ball bearings, drug delivery vehicles (Bio-medical), semiconductors/transistors, high-capacity batteries and Hydrogen reservoir for the automotive industry. The commercial applications of CNBs are novel and yet immature for market.

Components in the field of automotive application produced by a modified squeeze casting process have been considered. This innovative process has been oriented toward the manufacturing of high resistance and high toughness automotive parts using A380 alloys and they have been subjected to T6 heat treatment. Standard samples have been machined directly from real automotive components for tensile properties evaluation and hardness values determination. Superior mechanical characteristics have been obtained thanks to the low porosity content and to the particular microstructure features.

Cobalt-base alloys are generally adopted in applications that require wear, corrosion, and heat resistance. In particular, cobalt-chromium-molybdenum (Co-Cr-Mo) alloy is currently being used in the aerospace and medical field. Both applications require product personalization and take advantage by parts manufacturing through additive technologies, such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). This technology still has limitations for the manufacture of small cavities, such as holes with diameters below 0.6 mm and high aspect ratio, which require drilling of the additive manufactured part.

This paper investigates the key factors associated to the realization of a hand exoskeleton to be embedded in an astronaut's EVA glove, in order to overcome the stiffness of the pressurized space suit. An overview regarding the main constraints related to the realization of a hand exoskeleton for EVA suits is provided, as well as a preliminary concept analysis of possible solutions in terms of mechanical structure, actuators and sensors.

È descritto un giunto articolare (1) per esoscheletro di una articolazione (A) interposta tra almeno due capi ossei (F1, F2) comprendente almeno una prima forcella (3a) calzata assialmente lungo almeno un primo tale capo osseo (F1), almeno una seconda forcella (3b) calzata assialmente lungo almeno un secondo tale capo osseo (F2) ed almeno un mezzo di articolazione (5) interposto tra tale prima forcella (3a) e tale seconda forcella (3b) ed avente asse di rotazione sostanzialmente coassiale con un asse di rotazione di tale articolazione (A), almeno un componente di snodo (5a; 5b) di tale mezzo d

Sponge-like nanostructured ZnO layers were successfully employed as photoanodes for the fabrication of highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. The sponge-like ZnO layers were obtained by room temperature radio-frequency magnetron sputtering deposition of metallic zinc, followed by thermal oxidation treatment in an ambient atmosphere. The porous films show a 3D branched nanomorphology, with a feature similar to natural coral.