Components and structures working in the marine environment are exposed to high stresses attributable to the action of wind, waves, and tides. Moreover, they have to face hostile and severe environmental conditions during their lifetime, being placed in the splash zone if not even submerged in saltwater. The application of polymer composites in marine systems has been the focus of intensive studies in the last decades, highlighting potential benefits given by the replacement of several components, such as ship hulls, propeller blades, wind, and tidal turbine blades, to cite but a few. The present paper reports the latest advances in this area, addressing the applications of advanced composites in ships and ship components, offshore oil and gas composites, marine renewable energy and underwater repairing.

Currently, the application of pultruded profiles is increasing owing to their advantages, such as light weight, high strength, improved durability, corrosion resistance, ease of transportation, speed of assembly, and nonmagnetic/nonconductive characteristics. This review analyzes the main application fields of elements produced by pultrusion manufacturing processes: bridges and bridge decks, cooling towers, building elements and complete building systems, marine construction, transportation, and energy systems. Analysis of the scientific literature in relation to the mechanical behavior of pultruded elements is presented as well. Finally, this review outlines the future study possibilities, giving the researchers and practitioners the directions for deeper investigation of specific features and exploration of new ones concerning the mentioned aspects of pultruded fiber-reinforced polymer composites.

Material stirring and heat generation in friction\ud stir welding processes induce significant microstructure\ud and material properties alterations. Previous studies high-\ud lighted the relationship among microstructure, grain size,\ud microhardness, and performance of the joint. In this con-\ud text, an opportune definition of process parameters, in\ud particular rotating and welding speed, is crucial to improve\ud joint reliability. In this article, results provided by a\ud numerical and experimental investigation on the influence\ud of rotating and welding speed on microstructure, mechan-\ud ical properties, and joint quality in AA2024-T3 friction stir\ud welded butt joints are reported. Experimental data are\ud presented and discussed considering numerically computed\ud temperature and strain rate distributions, providing useful\ud information for parameters setting. Processing window,\ud i.e., parameters resulting in a successful material deposi-\ud tion, is also individuated

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