This article includes several studies and advanced research carried out on the subject of large KANGUR-type port cranes, subjected to regular or interventional maintenance work; besides the beneficial effects for which they were intended, some undesirable effects were detected in terms of affecting safety in exploitation. The purpose of this paper is to identify the risk factors and to offer sustainable solutions for increasing operational safety and service life for the respective equipment, as well as for other similar fields of activity, including oversized structures. Following the theoretical studies and the experimental research carried out in situ that confirmed the validity of the theoretical models used, the article in conclusion provides specific and sustainable solutions as well as new methods of assessment, which combine the positive elements of the usual solutions, but in parallel, allow the elimination of the negative side effects that may occur in time. Hence, the article’s novelties also consist of a new approach to achieve structural interventions, resulting in the increase in the service life, and in parallel with that, the safety in operation of the respective equipment.

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.

One of the goals of modern society is represented by reducing the cost for the maintenance of cars. One of the pieces that break down most often on the engine block is the crankshaft, in various areas of it. Due to the fact that the price of a crankshaft is very high, specialists seek solutions for repairing and not replacing them. In this study, it is presented a comparison in terms of hardness obtained at recovering the counterweight by welding by using two methods of welding, WIG and SMAW through various techniques: normal, WTO, lateral depositing.

Various types of shielding gases mixes are used for the industrial GMAW applications. The use of the direct current welding process with reverse or direct polarity influences the geometric characteristics of the beads as well as process dilution. In certain situations, such as weld deposits, the penetration should be as shallow as possible and the heat affected zone of the bead should be reduced. The paper presents the experimental procedure, the obtained results and the conclusions concerning the influence of polarity on the shape and geometry of the welding beam, while using various shielding gases and various welding parameters and by changing polarities.

This paper presents a comparative study on the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of a biocompatible titanium and Co-Cr alloys used in prosthetics implants and medical instruments fabrications. The samples used for the analysis were obtained by applying the additive manufacturing process called Direct Melting Laser Sintering. Following the analysis of the results obtained for the two sets of samples it was observed that the thermophysical properties of the materials influence the quality of the obtained surfaces.