The world is evolving, and it has transformed from the industrial age to the era of connected and intelligent products in both organizations and competition. The advances in technology in the last decade have led to the introduction of a new term called Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution and that has led to the emergence of the term Quality 4.0. Quality 4.0 is the digitalization of traditional quality approaches and the focus on the use of digital tools to improve an organization’s ability to meet customers’ requirements with high quality. The purpose of this paper is to assess the environments of higher education institutions (HEIs) against the 11 axes of LNS Research Quality 4.0 framework and provide insights about their readiness for Quality 4.0 transformation. The framework helps the organizations digitalize their traditional quality practices and transform to Quality 4.0 through exploring the traditional quality—Quality 4.0 continuum of tools and/or concepts related to each axis so they can assess their transformation efforts accordingly. This paper uses these continuums to identify the quality implementation efforts conducted by HEIs through analyzing the continuums’ related practices adopted within their environments and find out what should be done to get to the full transformation to Quality 4.0 within the higher education field. The study shows the HEIs potential of adopting the Quality 4.0 tools and techniques of varies axes of the framework while revealing a limited adoption of most of them in the current times. This is due to several challenges the most impacting of which is having fragmented processes together with fragmented data systems and sources. The study is concluded with a proposed roadmap to assist HEIs to get the best out their efforts in the Quality 4.0 transformation process.

This work investigates the feasibility of using friction stir welding (FSW) process as a groove filling welding technique to weld duplex stainless steel (DSS) that is extensively used by petroleum service companies and marine industries. For the FSW experiments, three different groove geometries without root gap were designed and machined in a DSS plates 6.5 mm thick. FSW were carried out to produce butt-joints at a constant tool rotation rate of 300 rpm, traverse welding speed of 25 mm/min, and tilt angle of 3o using tungsten carbide (WC) tool. For comparison, the same DSS plates were welded using gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). The produced joints were evaluated and characterized using radiographic inspection, optical microscopy, and hardness and tensile testing. Electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) was used to examine the grain structure and phases before and after FSW. The initial results indicate that FSW were used successfully to weld DSS joints with different groove designs with defect-free joints produced using the 60° V-shape groove with a 2 mm root face without root gap. This friction stir welded (FSWed) joint was further investigated and compared with the GTAW joint. The FSWed joint microstructure mainly consists of α and γ with significant grain refining; the GTWA weld contains different austenitic-phase (γ) morphologies such as grain boundary austenite (GBA), intragranular austenite precipitates (IGA), and Widmanstätten austenite (WA) besides the ferrite phase (α) in the weld zone (WZ) due to the used high heat input and 2209 filler rod. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation of the FSWed joint are enhanced over the GTAW weldment by 21%, 41%, and 66% and over the BM by 65%, 33%, and 54%, respectively. EBSD investigation showed a significant grain refining after FSW with grain size average of 1.88 µm for austenite and 2.2 µm for ferrite.

In this work, three mathematical models for the heat generation during bobbin tool friction stir welding (BT-FSW) of aluminum using three tool pin geometries have been proposed. The models have utilized and updated the available models for the heat generation during the conventional tool friction stir welding (CT-FSW). For the validation of the models, BT-FSW experiments have been carried out for aluminum alloy AA1050 using three different pin geometries (cylindrical, square, and triangular), at different welding speeds of 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 mm/min and a constant tool rotation speed of 600 rpm. The welding temperatures during BT-FSW have been measured to be compared with that calculated from the models at the same parameters. It has been found that the calculated welding temperatures from the models and that measured during BT-FSW are in good agreement at all the investigated welding speeds especially in case of the square and cylindrical pins, proving the validity of the developed models for the predication of the heat generation as well as the welding temperatures. This will allow proper designing of the BT-FSW parameters and avoiding the conditions that can deteriorate the joint quality and properties.

This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) processing on the structural evolution and mechanical properties of AA2xxx aluminum alloy. Finite element analysis (FE) was used to study the deformation behavior of the AA2xxx billets during processing in addition investigate the strain homogeneity in the longitudinal and transverse direction. Billets of AA2011 aluminum alloy were processed successfully through ECAP up to 4-passes with rotating the sample 90° along its longitudinal axis in the same direction after each pass (route Bc) at 150 °C. The microstructural evolution and crystallographic texture were analyzed using the electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and optical microscopy (OM). An evaluation of the hardness and tensile properties was presented and correlated with the EBSD findings and FE simulations. The FE analysis results were in good agreement with the experimental finding and microstructural evolution. Processing through 4-passes produced an ultrafine-grained structure (UFG) and a recrystallized fine grain dominated the structure coupled with a geometric grain subdivision which indicated by grain refining and very high density of substructures. This reduction in grain size was coupled with an enhancement in the hardness, tensile strength by 66.6%, and 52%, respectively compared to the as-annealed counterpart. Processing through 1-pass and 2-passes resulted in a strong texture with significant rotation for the texture components whereas 4-passes processing led to losing the symmetry of the texture with significant reduction in the texture intensity.

Date palm, the most important tree in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, produces a huge amount of waste yearly in the form of fibrous materials, dried fruits, and seeds. Such waste is a great source of excellent degradable biomass that can be used in numerous applications as natural fiber composites, active carbon precursors, and even nano-featured sheets. That rich resource is yearly burned on date palm farms due to the lack of effective processing strategies. This review offers a scientific evaluation for date palm waste in terms of specifications and applications, and it proposes pre-treatment processes to produce fibrous and powder raw materials to be used in some engineering and industrial applications. Additionally, some possible advanced industrial applications, such as active carbon and natural fiber composites, will be discussed and reviewed.