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The paper presents a review of the research reports published in 2012–2022, dedicated to air gauging. Since most of the results are somehow related to Industry 4.0 concept, the review put the air gauging to the context of fourth industrial revolution. It was found that despite substantial decrease of the number of published papers in recent years, the investigations are still performed to improve air gauges, both in static and in non-steady states. Researchers paid attention to the digitization of the results, models and simulations, uncertainty estimation, calibration, and linearization. Specific applications covered real-time monitoring and in-process control, as well as form and surface topography measurements. Proposed solutions for integration with computer systems seem suitable for the air gauges be included to the sensor networks built according to the Industry 4.0 concept.

The quality of digital 3D models of fossils is important from the perspective of their further usage, either for scientific or didactical purposes. However, fidelity evaluation has rarely been attempted for digitized fossil objects. In the present research, a 3D triangulated model of the unique skull of Madygenerpeton pustulatum was built using an YXLON µCT device. The comparative analysis was performed using models obtained from seven optical surface-scanning systems. Methodology for accuracy assessment involved the determination of distances between the points in pairs of models, interchanging the reference and tested ones. Statistical significance testing using paired t-tests was performed. In particular, it was found that the YXLON µCT model was closest to the one obtained from AICON SmartScan, exhibiting an average distance of ∆d¯ = −0.0183 mm with a standard deviation of σ∆d = 0.0778 mm, which is close to the permissible error of 20 µm given in technical specifications for AICON scanners. It was demonstrated that the analysis maintained measurement validity even though the YXLON model consisted of 23.8 M polygons and the AICON model consisted of 13.9 M polygons. Comparison with other digital models demonstrated that the fidelity of the triangulated µCT model made it feasible for further research and dissemination purposes.

The paper presents the results of the investigations on the direction-dependent accuracy of the point identification during contact probe measurements with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Considering the contact point identified by an orthogonal to the surface probe movement, the transformation of coordinates was made in order to calculate the displacement of the measured point. As a result, the positioning accuracy was estimated in three axes. The experiments demonstrated a strong dependence of the displacement on the declination angle. Moreover, it was found that the directional surface texture which provided different roughness in perpendicular directions, had an impact on the positioning accuracy.

This paper presents the results of investigations on the accuracy of contact point identification during coordinate measurement, which is crucial in the context of the Industry 4.0 concept. In particular, the effects of swivel length and probe declination angle during measurement were analyzed. In the experiments, deviations from the expected coordinates (0,0,0) of the contact point were analyzed for different rotational angles of the probing head. It was found that the recommended vertical positioning of the stylus at an angle of A = 0° might have introduced some insignificant errors. Increasing angle A up to 15° generated additional errors of negligible values in comparison with the measurement accuracy of the CMM. However, an increase in angle A up to 90° introduced additional errors as high as 10 μm. This contact point identification error will have a certain effect on the best fitting element and subsequent calculations and on the respective measurement results.

This paper presents the experimental results of a Machine Learning application for the health monitoring of a conveyor belt. The real-time analysis of the rubber belt condition is a crucial issue in achieving safety and avoiding critical failures and related expenses. The measuring system based on strain gauges was applied to identify the actual state of the belt. Using the Classification Lerner application from MATLAB platform, 22 algorithms were tested, and using the Diagnostic Feature Designer application, the analysis was performed. Three tested ML algorithms were able to classify the states of the conveyor belt with preset damages correctly, exhibiting 100% prediction accuracy. The k-nearest neighbors (KNN) classifiers and neural networks failed to achieve that level of accuracy.

Zirconia-based ceramics find wide application in engineering due to their very high hardness, resistance to elevated temperatures, and high fracture toughness. Among stabilizers of the advantageous tetragonal zirconia phase, yttria allows for better grain size refinement than ceria does; thus, Y2O3 is the most widely used. In the present study, comparative analysis was performed for yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and ceria-stabilized zirconia (CSZ) in terms of sinterability, densification, and mechanical properties, including hardness and resistance to plastic deformation. The results proved that CSZ sintered in similar conditions as YSZ exhibits similar properties, including an elastic modulus of 200–220 GPa and H/E of 0.070–0.076. In particular, the hardness of the ZrO2–5 wt% CeO2 ceramic appeared to be 14.6 ± 0.5 GPa, close to that of ZrO2–3 wt% Y2O3, which was 14.20 ± 0.74 GPa. However, SiC addition to ZrO2–5 wt% CeO2 composites increased hardness substantially up to 16.8 ± 0.8 GPa. Moreover, the fracture toughness of CSZ was 2.5 times higher than that of YSZ sintered under identical conditions. Thus, CeO2 can be a good, cheaper alternative to the traditionally used Y2O3 stabilizer for submicron-grained tetragonal zirconia ceramics.

The heterostructures TiOF2/(0.5–5 wt.%)MnO(OH) attract attention as potential catalysts for pollutant removal from water. In this paper, a novel synthesis route was proposed through the precipitation of MnO(OH) particles out of an alkaline solution on the TiOF2 particles. The formation of manganese oxyhydroxide was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of manganese in proportions up to 1 wt.% recalculated to MnO(OH) did not affect the morphology of TiOF2/MnO(OH) particles. Higher concentrations of Mn caused the appearance of mostly spherical particles of dimensions ca. 100 nm. The effect of calcination temperatures 300–600 °C on the structure and photocatalytic activity of the particles was analyzed. It was found that calcination of the powder formed TiO2 phase with mainly anatase structure as well as Mn3O4. After calcination at 600 °C, the appearance of fluorine was detected, indicating the formation of fluorinated titanium dioxide. For higher manganese concentrations, the fluorine proportion in F-TiO2 samples decreased. Increased Mn content in TiOF2/MnO(OH) significantly improved its photocatalytic activity, shortening the degradation time and increasing the degradation degree of methylene blue (MB). However, an increase in the calcination temperature decreased the degradation degree of MB. It was found that the optimal concentration of MnO(OH) was 5 wt.%.

Modern SiC-based materials are of paramount importance in that they serve as wear-resistant and thermal protectors and as next-generation single-photon sources for photonic and quantum solutions. Efforts are underway to identify more efficient methods of manufacturing SiC-based ceramic materials. The objective of this paper is to provide a description of the optimization of sintering SiC–TiC composites by the electroconsolidation method. The influence of titanium carbide content on the physical and mechanical properties of SiC–TiC composites obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at a pressure of 45 MPa was studied. It was found that compared to sintered silicon carbide, the porosity of composites with 40 mol% TiC decreased from ~30% to 0%, the crack resistance increased from 2.9 to 6.1 MPa × m0.5, and the hardness increased from 2.9 to 21.5 GPa. The influence of sintering temperature and holding time on SiC–TiC composites’ physical and mechanical properties during sintering at a pressure of 45 MP was also investigated. An increase in temperature from 1900 °C to 2000 °C resulted in an approximately 30% rise in the composite hardness. An extension of the time allotted for the sintering process from 30 to 45 min resulted in a decrease in both the fracture toughness and hardness of the material. The utilization of two- and three-dimensional vector spaces of material features was proposed as a novel methodology for the description of manufacturing process optimization.

This study proposes a component-based model for assessing risks in the design of high-tech products. The model took into account the novelty of components, which affected the risk level in the development process. The risk assessment was based on fuzzy set theory, which allowed determination of the degree of importance of risk-generating factors, such as technical, economic, and organizational risks. The components were divided into “old” ones with the possibility of adaptation and “new” ones being implemented for the first time. The structure of the project included adaptation, acquisition, and development of new components. The component-oriented approach allowed for a reduction in the negative impact of risks in the early stages of development while optimizing decision-making on further product development. A case study involving the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was conducted to demonstrate the model’s applicability. The assessed aggregated project risk varied from 0.0992 for projects based primarily on reusable components to 0.1902 for those involving a high proportion of newly developed components. The model’s sensitivity to component novelty made it possible to differentiate between low- and moderate-risk design scenarios. This is especially valuable for early-stage project selection and risk-informed “go/no-go” decisions in the design of complex systems.

The repeatability of the material properties is required to ensure the proper performance of the engineered systems that are constructed using these materials. In this paper, an analysis of the sintered ceria-stabilized zirconia is presented. This material exhibited high mechanical properties, due to the mechanism of strengthening via phase transition. The reproducibility was assessed for the material made out of a starting powder produced by fluoride salt precipitation. To fabricate specimens, a novel electroconsolidation method was used, ensuring a high heating rate, relatively low sintering temperatures, and short holding time. Weibull analysis was performed considering the bending strength of specimens and their microhardness. The obtained values of both shape parameter m and scale parameter σ0 indicated that the ZrO2 stabilized with 5 wt.% CeO2 samples exhibited low variability of strength and hardness. The experimental evidence and statistical analysis reveal an influence of the m-phase, which has lower symmetry and therefore its addition makes ceramic weaker and softer. Furthermore, its progressive replacement by the t-phase, which has higher symmetry, makes ceramic both harder and stronger. Reducing the mol% increases the risk of the appearance of the highest addition of the monoclinic phase; increasing it is unfavorable from the point of view of the sintering process. Statistical and manufacturing evidence suggests that the choice of 5%/mol is optimal.