This research relates to the design, modelling and fabrication of 3D metal printed heat sinks. The heat sinks presented in the research are the commonly used longitudinal fin solid heat sink (LFSHS) and three LFSHS lattice structure designs, differing only in their lattice sizes, fabricated using the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technique in Maraging Steel (MS1), on an EOSINT M280 system. In order to increase the heat sink surface area, the heat sinks are manufactured with mesh lattices along the length of the fins, while keeping the overall heat sink volume constant. The research is focused on pushing the limitations of the DMLS technique for the development of repeating unit, lattice structures heat sinks, and to examine the effect of incrementally varying the lattice sizes with regards to the resultant surface area of the heat sink and the thermal performance of the system. The results obtained under natural convection show that the thermal performance of the LFSHS outperformed all lattice structure heat sinks. This is due to the fact that, the pressure drop across the lattice heat sinks were so high, due to lattice meshes that it negated the positive effect of the greater surface area.

Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) of metallic parts is a highly multivariate process. An understanding of powder feedstock properties is critical to ensure part quality. In this paper, a detailed examination of two commercial stainless steel 316L powders produced using the gas atomization process is presented. In particular, the effects of the powder properties (particle size and shape) on the powder rheology were examined. The results presented suggest that the powder properties strongly influence the powder rheology and are important factors in the selection of suitable powder for use in an additive manufacturing (AM) process. Both of the powders exhibited a strong correlation between the particle size and shape parameters and the powder rheology. Optical microscope images of melt pools of parts printed using the powders in an L-PBF machine are presented, which demonstrated further the significance of the powder morphology parameters on resulting part microstructures.

For many years there has been considerable research from both an academic and industrial perspective into the monitoring and control of CNC machining processes, and progress has been well documented. It is widely acknowledged within the CIRP community that collection of information into the performance of material cutting processes is a worthwhile research topic, and this is mirrored in the work of the Scientific Technical Committee-Cutting (STC-C) and other Scientific Technical Committees.This work has been continued by the consortium engaged in the REALISM project, an EU-FP7 funded project which is investigating the use of sensor fusion in a real time production environment, to monitor CNC tool wear through the use of three sensor technologies- Force, Acoustic Emission and Vibration. However, the real work of the project consortium will be in the analysis and interpretation of the data from the collated fusion of the deployed sensors- and the intelligent interrogation of this sensor information. The sensor deployment strategy of this project was outlined in a presentation, poster and paper presented at the 2014 CIRP ICME conference and this current paper provides an update on the ongoing work.An overview is provided in this paper of the challenges that have been overcome as part of the REALISM project, and a brief overview of the initial verification trials that were undertaken on the deployment of the sensors. Further results will also be presented that show promising initial sensor data, which shows conditions leading to Catastrophic Tool Failure (CTF)

The aim of present study was to develop conventional and PEGylated (long circulating), liposomes containing anastrozole (ANS) for effective treatment of breast cancer. ANS is a third-generation non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor of the triazole class used for the treatment of advanced and late-stage breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Under such disease conditions the median duration of therapy should be prolonged until tumor regression ends (>31 months). Liposomes were prepared by the thin film hydration method by using ANS and various lipids such as soyaphosphatidyl choline, cholesterol and methoxy polyethylene glycol distearoyl ethanolamine in different concentration ratios and evaluated for physical characteristics, in vitro drug release and stability. Optimized formulations of liposome were studied for in vitro cytotoxic activity against the BT-549 and MCF-7 cell lines and in vivo behavior in Wistar rats. Preformulation studies, both Fourier transform infrared study and differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed no interaction between the drug and the excipients used in the formulations. The optimized formulations AL-07 and AL-09 liposomes showed encapsulation efficiencies in the range 65.12 ± 1.05% to 69.85 ± 3.2% with desired mean particle size distribution of 101.1 ± 5.9 and 120.2 ± 2.8 nm and zeta potentials of -43.7 ± 4.7 and -62.9 ± 3.5 mV. All the optimized formulations followed Higuchi-matrix release kinetics and when plotted in accordance with the Korsemeyer-Peppas method, the n-value 0.5 < n < 1.0 suggests an anomalous (non-Fickian) transport. Likewise, the PEGylated liposomes showed greater tumor growth inhibition on BT-549 and MCF-7 cell lines from in vitro cytotoxicity studies (p < 0.05). Pharmacokinetic study of conventional and PEGylated liposomes in Wistar rats demonstrated a 3.33- and 20.28-fold increase in AUC(0-∞) values when compared to pure drug (p < 0.001). Among the formulations, PEGylated liposomes showed encouraging results by way of their long circulation and sustained delivery properties for effective treatment of breast cancer.