The aim of the present study is to investigate the performance of two carbon fiber-reinforced composite polymers used to manufacture end-use parts via the fused filament fabrication (FFF) method. The materials under investigation were carbon fiber-reinforced Polyamide-6 (PA6-CF15) and carbon fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS-CF15). To evaluate their mechanical properties and vibrational behavior, specimens were fabricated with four distinct infill patterns: grid, gyroid, triangle and hexagon. In particular, the vibrational behavior of the 3D-printed composites was determined by conducting cyclic compression testing, as well as modal tests. Additionally, the mechanical behavior of the reinforced polymers was determined by conducting both uniaxial tensile and compression tests, as well as three-point bending tests. The results of the mechanical experiments revealed that the grid pattern exhibited the best overall performance, while the gyroid pattern exhibited the greatest strength-to-weight ratio, making it the most durable infill for use with composite filaments. In vibration experiments, PA6-CF15 structures exhibited higher damping ratios than PPS-CF15, indicating superior damping capacity. Among the infill patterns, the hexagon pattern provided the greatest vibration isolation performance.

Path planning is a vital challenge in robot navigation. In the real world, robots operate in 3D environments with various obstacles and restrictions. An improved artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) is proposed to solve 3D path planning problems in environments with obstacles. The improved AFSA incorporates a 3D model of 24 possible movement points to more realistically simulate real-world robot movement capabilities. Several improvements are adopted, such as methods of simple and advanced 3D elimination. The 3D implementation of an agent’s navigation model, called an “obstacle heatmap”, is also presented. The use of a safety value factor and a total movement point factor in the AFSA’s objective function are introduced. The combination of improved AFSA and a ray-casting algorithm is also presented. Finally, a method called “multiple laser activation” is introduced to overcome both the main disadvantage of the application of AFSAs in path planning and the limitation of the finite number of possible movement points that appear when bio-inspired algorithms are applied to generate the optimal path in a grid environment. The resulting path is applied to real-world challenges with drones, coordinate measuring machines, and industrial robotic arms.

Collaborative robots are vital in Industry 5.0 operations. They are utilized to perform tasks in collaboration with humans or other robots to increase overall production efficiency and execute complex tasks. Aiming at a comprehensive approach to assembly processes and highlighting new applications of collaborative robots, this paper presents the development of a digital twin (DT) for the design, monitoring, optimization and simulation of robots’ deployment in assembly cells. The DT integrates information from both the physical and virtual worlds to design the trajectory of collaborative robots. The physical information about the industrial environment is replicated within the DT in a computationally efficient way that aligns with the requirements of the path planning algorithm and the DT’s objectives. An enhanced artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) is utilized for the 4D path planning optimization, taking into account dynamic and static obstacles. Finally, the proposed framework is utilized for the examination of a case in which four industrial robotic arms are collaborating for the assembly of an industrial component.

Centrifugal pumps are used extensively in various everyday applications. The occurrence of corrosion phenomena during operation often leads to the failure of a pump’s operating components, such as the impeller. The present research study examines the utilization of composite materials for fabricating centrifugal pump components using additive manufacturing as an effort to fabricate corrosion resistant parts. To achieve the latter two nanocomposite materials, carbon fiber reinforced polyamide and carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene sulfide were compared with two metal alloys, cast iron and brass, which are currently used in pump impeller manufacturing. The mechanical properties of the materials are extracted by performing a series of experiments, such as uniaxial tensile tests, nanoindentation and scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination of the specimen’s fracture area. Then, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed using various impeller designs to determine the fluid pressure exerted on the impeller’s geometry during its operation. Finally, the maximum power rating of an impeller that can be made from such composites will be determined using a static finite element model (FEM). The FEM static model is developed by integrating the data collected from the experiments with the results obtained from the CFD analysis. The current research work shows that nanocomposites can potentially be used for developing impellers with rated power of up to 9.41 kW.

Additive Manufacturing is a rapidly developing technology that enables the fabrication of objects with complex geometries and high levels of customization while keeping the prototyping costs relatively low. In recent years, its application has grown to include the fabrication of end-use parts, creating new opportunities in industries such as the automotive, aerospace, mechanical, and hydraulic engineering industries. The present research paper focuses on the fabrication and evaluation of 3D-printed operational end-use parts of a water pump, which were originally made from cast iron. This approach aims to determine whether AM can be an alternative for metal parts in operational systems such as water pumps. In particular, the impeller of a centrifugal pump is remanufactured using material extrusion AM technology with PPS-CF composite polymer as a fabrication material. Subsequently, the surface roughness of the two parts is measured, and the performance of each part is predicted by creating a CFD model. Additionally, the printed part is compared to the original part by conducting a centrifugal pump performance test for each impeller. The results show that the 3D-printed impeller achieves an approximate 15% increase in overall efficiency compared to the original impeller.

The objective of this research is the improvement of the physical properties of artificial sandstone in order to obtain a printable construction material whose composition and structure is suitable for the design, study and construction of environmentally friendly architectural structures. To investigate the suitability of the researched material for 3D printing and determine the physical and mechanical properties of the starch-based sandstone 3D-printed material, both cylindrical and cellular samples were designed. The 3D-printed artificial starch–sandstone material was found to have satisfactory mechanical properties.