Bio‐based epoxy resins are attracting widespread interest in the field of polymer thermosets as environmentally friendly building block. In the present study, the feasibility of applying UV‐curable epoxidized vegetable oils (EVOs) as anti‐corrosion coating is investigated. Rheological characterization of EVOs is carried out, and their viscosity‐shear relationship is evaluated. The cationic UV‐curing of EVOs successfully gives rise to crosslinked materials with a wide range of thermo‐mechanical properties, evaluated by differential scanning calorimetric analysis and dynamic thermal mechanical analysis. A high epoxy‐group conversion, ranging from 93% to 99%, is always obtained. The thermal stability and surface properties of the bio‐based coatings, such as, pencil hardness, adhesion, solvent resistance, and contact angle, are analyzed. Moreover, the corrosion protection effectiveness of the coatings is characterized by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. In addition, field emission scanning electron microscopy is used to assess the samples morphology after corrosion tests.

This paper describes a portable low-cost device for performing Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements which is based on an off-the-shelf TeensyDuino. The instrument does not make use of other components like operational amplifiers so it can be readily set up by anyone having a Teensy device and some resistors. Teensy 3.2, 3.5 and 3.6 can be used to realize the EIS system. The instrument can measure the impedance in the frequency range from 0.01 Hz to 50000 Hz and by selecting the shunt resistor it can be adapted to different impedance values. No special instrumentation is required for the system calibration. The proposed system uncertainty is of less than 5% for an impedance of up to 50 Ωk, a value which is lower than the usual intrinsic uncertainty of most of corrosion experiments.

The occurrence of light spinal diseases due to the low physical activity of daily life is continuously increasing. Recovering form these diseases requires specific and directed physical activity and can conveniently performed in swimming pools where the apparent weight reduction due to the water helps letting patients perform the relief movements. Unfortunately a way for easily assessing the correctness of the patient's movement is still missing and in most cases everything relies on the capabilities of the trainers, which must be continuously present. This paper describes an attempt to arrange a simple system suitable for a quasi on-line self assessing to the movement correctness. The proposed system is based on two inertial assemblies to be worn on the wrists and capable of sending data to a receiver installed at pool border. Data received from these small assemblies are processed to show the patients the symmetry of their movements, which is connected to the movement efficiency. The inertial assemblies are arranged by using a commercial miniaturized Inertial Measurement Unit, a Teensyduino board, and a μPanel WiFi transmitter which is able to send the data to the received during the swimming. The receiver process the data in-line so that, when the patients stop swimming to take a rest, they can be displayed to the patients as a self-assess of the just performed activity.

Developing longtime laboratory experiments is a challenging problem, which requires users to frequently get to the laboratories. “iHomeX” tries to tackle this problem by opening real laboratories to remote access: people working on the experiments are required to go to the laboratory and physically arrange their setups, but later on they can manage the experiment from home. The proposed solution can be used in many environments, but is especially useful in the case of long time tests, such as experiments related to electronic component failures, material fatigue, and corrosion. “iHomeX” lets researchers to remotely change the experimental parameters, while observing the effects of each action not only on signal levels, but also by following the experiment by means of a webcam. “iHomeX” remote laboratory has been employed and validated by the students of the M.Sc. course in corrosion science proving to be a useful and low cost solution.