Titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace and automotive industries. They are used to implement some parts of machines, also in the chemical industry, power industry, arms industry, shipbuilding, in implantology and biomedical engineering. ...

Holoparasites have evolved a number of adaptations for pollination in parallel with their parasitic strategies. Complex floral pigmentation patterns, comprising spots or stripes that act as visual nectar or landing guides for pollinators, are common and diversified, but their structure and function are poorly understood and almost nothing is known about the role that micromorphological features might play in generating or complementing those visual stimuli. By means of scanning electron and confocal digital microscopy, petal micromorphology was analysed in the two subspecies of the holoparasitic Cistanche phelypæa (subsp. phelypæa and subsp. lutea, Orobanchaceae). Plant material was collected in the semi-deserts of southeastern Spain in 2009 (subsp. lutea), and in coastal salt marshes in southern Portugal in 2012 (subsp. phelypæa). Cistanche phelypæa subspecies were already known to differ in several morphological features of flowers and leaves, as well as in their habitats and hosts. Our data have shown that they also differ in several micromorphological features of the petal epidermis. Three different sculpture types of the petal epidermis were recognized. Our results show that petal micromorphology can be used in the separation of taxa, with potential utility in the determination of dried specimens in this genus, inherently poorly preserved in herbaria. The putative influence of the visual and tactile effects originating from this micromorphological variability on the interactions between plants and pollinators and in the reproductive biology of the former is discussed in detail.

The laser micro-machining was carried out on a station equipped with a TruMicro 5325c laser emitting ultraviolet radiation (343 nm wavelength) in picosecond pulses. On the surface of the Ti6Al7Nb alloy, dimple texturing with a constant diameter of ~200 μm, different depths (from ~5 to ~78 μm) and density (from 10% to 50%) were produced. The value of surface free energy was determined with the Owens–Wendt method using two measuring liquids: distilled water and diodomethane. The Staphylococcus epidermidis strain was used to test the adhesion of bacteria. It was found that the surface free energy value is influenced by both of the texture parameters (density, depth). The density also affects the potential for biofilm formation. Based on the analysis, it was shown that with an increase in surface free energy, the number of adhering microorganisms increases exponentially. Moreover, the study shows that there is a correlation between the number of adhering microorganisms and surface free energy.

This paper presents the results of laser welding of dissimilar joints, where low-carbon and stainless steels were welded inthe lap joint configuration. Performed welding of austenitic and ferritic-pearlitic steels included a sealed joint, where only partial penetration of lower material was obtained.The authors presented acomparative study of the joints under different configurations. The welding parameters for the assumed penetration were estimated via anumericalsimulation. Moreover, a stress–strain analysis was performed based on theestablished model. Numerical analysis showed significant differences in joint properties, therefore, further study was conducted. Investigation of the fusion mechanism in the obtained joints wascarried out using electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and metallurgical analysis. The study of the lap joint under different configurations showed considerable dissimilarities in stress–strain distribution and relevant differences in the fusion zone structure. The results showed advantages of using stainless steel as the upper material of a microstructure, and uniform chemical element distribution and stress analysis is considered.