Biocompatible titanium alloys are increasingly being used to make custom medical implants using additive manufacturing processes. This paper considered the welding reconditioning of a titanium-alloy customized additive manufactured hip implant with several manufacturing defects. The personalized implants are made starting from a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model as a direct result from the medical imaging investigations of the areas of interest. Then the customized implant is fabricated using an additive manufacturing process (in this case Powder Bed Fusion—Direct Metal Laser Sintering—DMLS). The analysis of the chemical composition values as well as the values of the mechanical properties of the samples obtained via DMLS additive manufacturing process, revealed that such a manufacturing process can be successfully used to make customized surgical implants. The mechanical properties values of the DMLS samples are approximately equal to those specified by the manufacturer of the titanium powder used for sintering. On average, the tensile strength was found to be 24.75% higher, while yield strength 22.7% higher than the values provided in the standard for surgical implants applications. In case the additive manufacturing process produces products with defects one might want to try and recover the implant due to costs and time constraints. The Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding reconditioning process with ERTi-5 Ti64 rod for welding titanium alloys with a content of 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium filler material was used to restore the geometric characteristics as well as the functional properties of a custom hip medical prosthesis. After welding depositing successive layers of materials, the surfaces of the prosthesis were machined to restore the functional properties according to the characteristics of the original 3D model. A 3D scan was used to compare the geometrical characteristics between the original part and reconditioned one. Deviations were less than 1 mm and were acceptable from the medical point of view.

Establish of efficient machining parameters has been a problem that has confronted manufacturing industries for nearly a century, and is still the subject of many studies. Optimum machining parameters are of great concern in manufacturing environments, where economy of machining operation plays a key role in competitiveness in the market. The aim of this paper is to present a method to integrate advanced technology issues into a simple and intuitive application for machining parameters calculus. The goal is the development of a program easy to use in industry for CAM engineers and machine operators, that optimize the cutting parameters (in ways that diminish the defects – vibrations, cutting tool wear, machine tools wear – and reduce the power consumption) depending on a number of parameters determined by experimental and analytical calculation. The program will integrate calculus algorithms based on experimental data and analytical results with a simple and friendly user interface.

Optimization of cutting parameters in NC milling needs to be studied because of its influence on machining time and cost. Today, any CAM software offers many tool path strategies to milling free form geometries. However, the users must have the know-how to choose the strategies according to geometry complexity, cutting tool geometry and its contact on the machined surface. Choosing the right strategy with the right cutting parameter is a rather difficult task to do on the machine tool. In this paper we try to take into account the influence of the toolpath over the surface quality for finishing operation. The main goal is to establish a direct link between machining parameters and toolpath in order to obtain the same surface quality for different trajectories. The first step consist in making a series of experiments for standards toolpaths (which can be found in any CAM software) like one-way, zig-zag, spiral from outside to inside, zig-zag at 45 dgr on a milling center. Based on the results, a correction coefficient for the feed rate was established.

A large amount of packaging used mainly in the food industry is obtained by technologies that involve the use of machines such as those that cut with flexible die. The durability of the flexible die is a very important aspect and in this regard the purpose of the research was to identify technologies for its development. Thus, the research considered the analysis of the durability of the knives made of 50CrMo4 steel considering hard chrome-plating treatment, as well as laser hardening of the knives. For the analysis of the durability of the tools, two technological parameters were considered, namely the moment of the tightening force, which had values in the range of 50 Nm–110 Nm, and the die cutting speed, which was adjusted to values in the range of 50–60 m/min. For the analysis of the durability of the flexible die, the wear of the tools was taken into account, as well as the maximum length of the die cut material.

Problem be used for evaluating products quality: - Destructive evaluation, in which the product is destroyed in order to analyse its properties and internal structure; - Non destructive evaluation (NDE), used for identifying defect and irregularities, without damaging the product. These non destructive evaluation methods include [1-4]: ‐ Visual and optical testing – VT; ‐ Magnetic particle testing – MT; ‐ Liquid penetrant testing –PT; ‐ Radiographic testing – RT ; ‐ Ultrasounds testing – UT; ‐ Eddy current testing – ET; One of the most frequently used method of non destructive examination is PT or dye penetrant testing (DPT), due to the low costs involved, ease of use and flexibility, suitability to a large number of applications. This method evaluates the presence of open discontinuities (or cracks) on the surface part, based on reverse capillary action and on the developer absorption effect which draw out penetrant and produces indications visible for the inspector (see fig.1 for a principle scheme of LP examination [5]). Although widely used, PT has several disadvantages: - Limitation to surface defects or to the defects which communicates with the surface; - Only products with non porous surfaces (or with low porosity) can be inspected; - Important amount of time used for manipulating the parts during inspection; - Results interpretation heavily depends on subjective aspects such as operator experience, knowledge and motivation. In order to eliminate or reduce the operator involvement in the process steps, research has being made for automating the process, such examples of liquid penetrant inspection lines can be found in [10-15]. However, in all analysed automated PT systems, the inspection is still made visually by an inspector, who gives a pass/fail grade for the inspected parts. The difficulty of fully automating the liquid penetrant inspection process is due not only to the necessity to precisely determine and control process parameters (dwell time, developer time, drying time, quantity of penetrant, developer and cleaning water, pressure for spraying solutions with penetrant, developer and cleaning water, transport speed, etc.) but also to the evaluation and results interpretation process. Thus, even if there are patents [16-17] which present approaches and general frameworks for fully-automated LPT systems, including also automatic image processing of the flaws, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, these equipment are not yet implemented. In this context, this paper presents an experimental stand for a fully automated liquid penetrant inspection line, which includes the development and use of dedicated imaging software used for real time interpretation of the images acquired using a digital camera. The novelty of the research consist in designing and building a fully-automated LPT stand, controlled by a soft which contains also a module for acquisition and image processing in real time without no human implication.