This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints-eprint.ncl.ac.uk Tan JH, Wong WLE, Dalgarno KW. An overview of powder granulometry on feedstock and part performance in the selective laser melting process.

The fabrication of Nd−Nb co-doped SnO 2 /α-WO 3 electrochromic (EC) materials for smart window applications is presented in the present paper. Nb is a good dopant candidate for ECs owing to its ability to introduce active sites on the surface of α-WO 3 without causing much lattice strain due to the similar ionic radius of Nb 5+ and W 6+ . These active sites introduce more channels for charge insertion or removal during redox reactions, improving the overall EC performance. However, Nb suffers from prolonged utilization due to the Li + ions trapped within the ECs. By coupling Nd with Nb, the co-dopants would transfer their excess electrons to SnO 2 , improving the electronic conductivity and easing the insertion and extraction of Li + cations from the ECs. The enhanced Nd−Nb co-doped SnO 2 /α-WO 3 exhibited excellent visible light transmission (90% transmittance), high near-infrared (NIR) contrast (60% NIR modulation), rapid switching time (∼1 s), and excellent stability (>65% of NIR modulation was retained after repeated electrochemical cycles). The mechanism of enhanced EC performance was also investigated. The novel combination of Nd−Nb co-doped SnO 2 /α-WO 3 presented in this work demonstrates an excellent candidate material for smart window applications to be used in green buildings.

Existing Metal Additive Manufacturing processes are fast approaching a matured stage in which a wide range of possibilities are available for the incorporation of the rapid fabrication technology to current industrial practices. In terms of design conventions, the limitless geometrical freedom allows complex structures including cellular internal grids and lattices to be formed without additional tooling. Repair parts and leveraging components can also be produced on demand when required especially for military assets where large volume of inventory is constantly maintained to ensure operational readiness. In this exemplary work, a feasibility study on using stainless steel material with integrated cellular design to manufacture a guide bracket found on a military vehicle via Selective Laser Melting process was conducted. The results showed appreciably better mechanical performance in using a stainless steel honeycomb as compared to the aluminum alloy used for the original component together with a faster production route through SLM.

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