Gennaro Salvatore Ponticelli | Università degli studi Niccolò Cusano, telematica Roma (original) (raw)

Papers by Gennaro Salvatore Ponticelli

Research paper thumbnail of Life cycle analysis of an innovative fluidized bed degreasing process

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020

The present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of an alternative ... more The present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of an alternative technology for the industrial washing of metal components. In particular, the Fluidized Bed Degreasing is presented as a valid alternative for the traditional ultrasonic washing technology. This technique involves the use of a fluidized bed of glass particles, stirred inside the bed; the component to be degreased is immersed in the latter and the impact of the particles on its surface determines the removal of the lightly adhered contaminants. The experimental results obtained on copper frames for the electronics industry have demonstrated its technological validity, as well as a large-scale economic and environmental impact study has verified the possibility of replacing the traditional technology on an industrial level. In fact, a saving of over 75% in the total production costs has been estimated, ensuring a production capacity comparable to industrial degreasing machines. Finally, the Life Cycle Analysis showed that the developed technology is over 50 times much more environmental friendly than the traditional one, ensuring lower impact potentials, due to the recovery of the processing oil, but above all to the lack of chemical solutions disposal.

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Engineering of an Impeller for Submersible Electric Pump to Be Produced by Selective Laser Melting

Applied Sciences , 2021

The subject of the present study is the reproduction of a submersible electric pump impeller thro... more The subject of the present study is the reproduction of a submersible electric pump impeller through reverse engineering and additive manufacturing. All of the phases commonly envisaged in the reproduction of an existing piece were carried out. The aim of the study is to show how the chosen pump component can be effectively re-engineered and produced with the selective laser melting technique, obtaining a final product that is comparable if not even better than the starting one. To achieve this goal, the original piece was redesigned and a new model was created and analyzed. The whole process has been split into three main phases: (i) realization of the three-dimensional model from an existing piece using reverse engineering techniques; (ii) finite element analysis for the optimization of the use of the material; and (iii) 3D printing of a concept model in polyethylene terephthalate by using the fused deposition modeling technology and of the functional model in AISI 316 stainless steel with selective laser melting technology.

Research paper thumbnail of Fluidised bed finishing process for aeronautical applications: Environmental and technical-economic assessment

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021

The manual surface finishing process of aeronautical stators is time consuming and expensive. Mor... more The manual surface finishing process of aeronautical stators is time consuming and expensive. Moreover, this process is difficult to control and automate. To overcome these problems, this paper presents an innovative fluidised bed finishing process applied to turbine blades capable of guaranteeing compliance with the specifications in the absence of processing waste. Compared to the manual process performed by an individual operator, the fluidised bed process ensures the same quality in terms of surface roughness, with values of approximately 1 μm. It reduces the finishing costs of a single stator by approximately 80%, i.e., from € 769 to € 159, and increases productivity from approximately 42 units per year by manual processing to approximately 372 units. The significant increase in productivity is due to the possibility of processing an entire stator within the designed fluidised bed system. Despite an increase in the required investment costs, i.e., € 35,200 against € 1,000, the fluidised bed process guarantees a reduction in the main production cost items compared to that cost of a manual process, i.e., in terms of manpower (€ 2,703 vs. € 23,097) and processing materials (€ 4,346 € vs. € 6,906); this result, in combination with a significant increase in productivity, allows us to realise much cheaper processing than that with traditional methods. The performed life cycle assessment shows the excellent eco-sustainability of the fluidised bed process, and the corresponding environmental impact is much lower than that of the studied manual process, with a reduction of approximately 45% in the overall damage score, i.e., 11.598 pt vs. 21.094 pt. The traditional process is penalised above all by the considerable consumption of raw materials, i.e., 12.125 pt vs. 6.030 pt, which strongly affects the overall environmental impact. The fluidised bed process overcomes this problem and does not produce waste thanks to its high degree of automation and repeatability, therefore improving profits.

Research paper thumbnail of High-Pressure Sensors Based on Laser-Manufactured Sintered Silicon Carbide

Applied Sciences

In this work Sintered Silicon Carbide (S-SiC) samples have been used to fabricate fiber-optic-cou... more In this work Sintered Silicon Carbide (S-SiC) samples have been used to fabricate fiber-optic-coupled pressure sensors. The sensor structure reproduces a low-finesse Fabry–Perot (FP) interferometer. Laser manufacturing of cylindrical S-SiC samples was performed to define the thin membrane geometry of sensors. FP cavity is defined by the end-face of a single mode fiber and the S-SiC diaphragm surface. Hence, pressure is evaluated by measuring the cavity depth by a dedicated optoelectronic system coupled to the single mode fiber. Exploiting the excellent properties of S-SiC, in terms of high hardness, low thermal expansion, and high thermal conductivity, realized devices have been characterized up to 20 MPa. Experimental results demonstrate that produced sensors exhibit a non-linearity around ±0.6%F.S. and a high input dynamics. The all-optic sensing system proposed in this work would represent a good alternative to conventional solutions based on piezoelectric effects, overcoming the...

Research paper thumbnail of An Optimal Genetic Algorithm for Fatigue Life Control of Medium Carbon Steel in Laser Hardening Process

Applied Sciences

This study proposes a genetic algorithm-optimized model for the control of the fatigue life of AI... more This study proposes a genetic algorithm-optimized model for the control of the fatigue life of AISI 1040 steel components after a high-power diode laser hardening process. First, the effect of the process parameters, i.e., laser power and scan speed, on the fatigue life of the components after the laser treatment was evaluated by using a rotating bending machine. Then, in light of the experimental findings, the optimization model was developed and tested in order to find the best regression model able to fit the experimental data in terms of the number of cycles until failure. The laser treatment was found to significantly increase the fatigue life of the irradiated samples, thus revealing its suitability for industrial applications. Finally, the application of the proposed genetic algorithm-based method led to the definition of an optimal regression model which was able to replicate the experimental trend very accurately, with a mean error of about 6%, which is comparable to the st...

Research paper thumbnail of Laser texturing of AISI 304 stainless steel: experimental analysis and genetic algorithm optimisation to control the surface wettability

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental assessment of Selective Laser Melting compared with Laser Cutting of 316L stainless steel: A case study for flat washers’ production

CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2020

In industrial practise, decision makers should know performance characteristics, cost- and energy... more In industrial practise, decision makers should know performance characteristics, cost- and energy-related impacts for choosing the most suitable manufacturing technology for a specific product. In this context, the present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of the Selective Laser Melting processing of 316L stainless steel flat washers compared with the industrial CO2 Laser Cutting. The SLM process allows obtaining components with improved mechanical performance, with an increase of 15% and 48% in tensile strength and hardness, respectively. While surface roughness is more than 11 times worse than the hot rolled samples. The economic analysis showed the greater cost-effectiveness of the LC technology, ensuring the production of a single component at the price of 0.63 €, against 45.13 € necessary for the SLM, which is mainly due to the high consumption of the assistant gas (i.e. Argon). The health and environmental impacts evaluation showed that the LC is around 2.5 times more eco- and human-friendly if compared with the SLM process. In particular, the most relevant damage effect is given by the depletion of the fossil fuels due to a high electricity consumption. However, the observed trend between the two technologies appears to be very similar, thus revealing the possibility of reducing the impact potentials associated to the SLM process with its continuous technological advancements, by making the process itself able to move from small to medium or high volume production rates.

Research paper thumbnail of Fuzzy decision-making in laser-assisted joining of polymer-metal hybrid structures

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Neural network implementation for the prediction of load curves of a flat head indenter on hot aluminum alloy

Research paper thumbnail of Combined Fuzzy and Genetic Algorithm for the Optimisation of Hybrid Composite-Polymer Joints Obtained by Two-Step Laser Joining Process

Materials

In the present work, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic were combined to model and optimise the s... more In the present work, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic were combined to model and optimise the shear strength of hybrid composite-polymer joints obtained by two step laser joining process. The first step of the process consists of a surface treatment (cleaning) of the carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate, by way of a 30 W nanosecond laser. This phase allows removing the first matrix layer from the CFRP and was performed under fixed process parameters condition. In the second step, a diode laser was adopted to join the CFRP to polycarbonate (PC) sheet by laser-assisted direct joining (LADJ). The experimentation was performed adopting an experimental plan developed according to the design of experiment (DOE) methodology, changing the laser power and the laser energy. In order to verify the cleaning effect, untreated laminated were also joined and tested adopting the same process conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted to detect the statistical influence of the...

Research paper thumbnail of High Power Diode Laser (HPDL) for Fatigue Life Improvement of Steel: Numerical Modelling

Research paper thumbnail of A workflow to generate physical 3D models of cerebral aneurysms applying open source freeware for CAD modeling and 3D printing

Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery

Research paper thumbnail of An optimized fuzzy-genetic algorithm for metal foam manufacturing process control

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of A fuzzy logic-based model in laser-assisted bending springback control

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Laser milling of yttria-stabilized zirconia by using a Q-switched Yb:YAG fiber laser: experimental analysis

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Conferences by Gennaro Salvatore Ponticelli

Research paper thumbnail of Aluminium foam production control by using a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model

Procedia CIRP, 2020

This study deals with the proposal of a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model able to describe t... more This study deals with the proposal of a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to the manufacture of aluminium foams by using the dissolution and sintering process. The combined method allows taking into account both the uncertainty related to the model and the statistical process variability, with the aim of controlling the capability of this material at absorbing compression energy, for different set of process parameters. The use of genetic algorithms allows the optimization of the fuzzy supports in order to take into account most of the experimental data in combination with the smallest uncertainty.

Research paper thumbnail of Springback control in laser-assisted bending manufacturing process by using a fuzzy uncertain model

Procedia CIRP, 2020

This study wants to propose a fuzzy model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to ... more This study wants to propose a fuzzy model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to a laser-assisted bending process and it is aimed at controlling of the springback phenomena, for a different set of laser process parameters. The process maps obtained are used to select the operational parameters in order to obtain the desired process output, providing as additional information how much the uncertainty of the model and the process varies by changing those operational parameters. The fuzzy model has also been used to assess the optimal parameters in order to satisfy the requirement of the least-cost.

Research paper thumbnail of Life cycle analysis of an innovative fluidized bed degreasing process

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020

The present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of an alternative ... more The present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of an alternative technology for the industrial washing of metal components. In particular, the Fluidized Bed Degreasing is presented as a valid alternative for the traditional ultrasonic washing technology. This technique involves the use of a fluidized bed of glass particles, stirred inside the bed; the component to be degreased is immersed in the latter and the impact of the particles on its surface determines the removal of the lightly adhered contaminants. The experimental results obtained on copper frames for the electronics industry have demonstrated its technological validity, as well as a large-scale economic and environmental impact study has verified the possibility of replacing the traditional technology on an industrial level. In fact, a saving of over 75% in the total production costs has been estimated, ensuring a production capacity comparable to industrial degreasing machines. Finally, the Life Cycle Analysis showed that the developed technology is over 50 times much more environmental friendly than the traditional one, ensuring lower impact potentials, due to the recovery of the processing oil, but above all to the lack of chemical solutions disposal.

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Engineering of an Impeller for Submersible Electric Pump to Be Produced by Selective Laser Melting

Applied Sciences , 2021

The subject of the present study is the reproduction of a submersible electric pump impeller thro... more The subject of the present study is the reproduction of a submersible electric pump impeller through reverse engineering and additive manufacturing. All of the phases commonly envisaged in the reproduction of an existing piece were carried out. The aim of the study is to show how the chosen pump component can be effectively re-engineered and produced with the selective laser melting technique, obtaining a final product that is comparable if not even better than the starting one. To achieve this goal, the original piece was redesigned and a new model was created and analyzed. The whole process has been split into three main phases: (i) realization of the three-dimensional model from an existing piece using reverse engineering techniques; (ii) finite element analysis for the optimization of the use of the material; and (iii) 3D printing of a concept model in polyethylene terephthalate by using the fused deposition modeling technology and of the functional model in AISI 316 stainless steel with selective laser melting technology.

Research paper thumbnail of Fluidised bed finishing process for aeronautical applications: Environmental and technical-economic assessment

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021

The manual surface finishing process of aeronautical stators is time consuming and expensive. Mor... more The manual surface finishing process of aeronautical stators is time consuming and expensive. Moreover, this process is difficult to control and automate. To overcome these problems, this paper presents an innovative fluidised bed finishing process applied to turbine blades capable of guaranteeing compliance with the specifications in the absence of processing waste. Compared to the manual process performed by an individual operator, the fluidised bed process ensures the same quality in terms of surface roughness, with values of approximately 1 μm. It reduces the finishing costs of a single stator by approximately 80%, i.e., from € 769 to € 159, and increases productivity from approximately 42 units per year by manual processing to approximately 372 units. The significant increase in productivity is due to the possibility of processing an entire stator within the designed fluidised bed system. Despite an increase in the required investment costs, i.e., € 35,200 against € 1,000, the fluidised bed process guarantees a reduction in the main production cost items compared to that cost of a manual process, i.e., in terms of manpower (€ 2,703 vs. € 23,097) and processing materials (€ 4,346 € vs. € 6,906); this result, in combination with a significant increase in productivity, allows us to realise much cheaper processing than that with traditional methods. The performed life cycle assessment shows the excellent eco-sustainability of the fluidised bed process, and the corresponding environmental impact is much lower than that of the studied manual process, with a reduction of approximately 45% in the overall damage score, i.e., 11.598 pt vs. 21.094 pt. The traditional process is penalised above all by the considerable consumption of raw materials, i.e., 12.125 pt vs. 6.030 pt, which strongly affects the overall environmental impact. The fluidised bed process overcomes this problem and does not produce waste thanks to its high degree of automation and repeatability, therefore improving profits.

Research paper thumbnail of High-Pressure Sensors Based on Laser-Manufactured Sintered Silicon Carbide

Applied Sciences

In this work Sintered Silicon Carbide (S-SiC) samples have been used to fabricate fiber-optic-cou... more In this work Sintered Silicon Carbide (S-SiC) samples have been used to fabricate fiber-optic-coupled pressure sensors. The sensor structure reproduces a low-finesse Fabry–Perot (FP) interferometer. Laser manufacturing of cylindrical S-SiC samples was performed to define the thin membrane geometry of sensors. FP cavity is defined by the end-face of a single mode fiber and the S-SiC diaphragm surface. Hence, pressure is evaluated by measuring the cavity depth by a dedicated optoelectronic system coupled to the single mode fiber. Exploiting the excellent properties of S-SiC, in terms of high hardness, low thermal expansion, and high thermal conductivity, realized devices have been characterized up to 20 MPa. Experimental results demonstrate that produced sensors exhibit a non-linearity around ±0.6%F.S. and a high input dynamics. The all-optic sensing system proposed in this work would represent a good alternative to conventional solutions based on piezoelectric effects, overcoming the...

Research paper thumbnail of An Optimal Genetic Algorithm for Fatigue Life Control of Medium Carbon Steel in Laser Hardening Process

Applied Sciences

This study proposes a genetic algorithm-optimized model for the control of the fatigue life of AI... more This study proposes a genetic algorithm-optimized model for the control of the fatigue life of AISI 1040 steel components after a high-power diode laser hardening process. First, the effect of the process parameters, i.e., laser power and scan speed, on the fatigue life of the components after the laser treatment was evaluated by using a rotating bending machine. Then, in light of the experimental findings, the optimization model was developed and tested in order to find the best regression model able to fit the experimental data in terms of the number of cycles until failure. The laser treatment was found to significantly increase the fatigue life of the irradiated samples, thus revealing its suitability for industrial applications. Finally, the application of the proposed genetic algorithm-based method led to the definition of an optimal regression model which was able to replicate the experimental trend very accurately, with a mean error of about 6%, which is comparable to the st...

Research paper thumbnail of Laser texturing of AISI 304 stainless steel: experimental analysis and genetic algorithm optimisation to control the surface wettability

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental assessment of Selective Laser Melting compared with Laser Cutting of 316L stainless steel: A case study for flat washers’ production

CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2020

In industrial practise, decision makers should know performance characteristics, cost- and energy... more In industrial practise, decision makers should know performance characteristics, cost- and energy-related impacts for choosing the most suitable manufacturing technology for a specific product. In this context, the present work focuses on a technical, economic and environmental evaluation of the Selective Laser Melting processing of 316L stainless steel flat washers compared with the industrial CO2 Laser Cutting. The SLM process allows obtaining components with improved mechanical performance, with an increase of 15% and 48% in tensile strength and hardness, respectively. While surface roughness is more than 11 times worse than the hot rolled samples. The economic analysis showed the greater cost-effectiveness of the LC technology, ensuring the production of a single component at the price of 0.63 €, against 45.13 € necessary for the SLM, which is mainly due to the high consumption of the assistant gas (i.e. Argon). The health and environmental impacts evaluation showed that the LC is around 2.5 times more eco- and human-friendly if compared with the SLM process. In particular, the most relevant damage effect is given by the depletion of the fossil fuels due to a high electricity consumption. However, the observed trend between the two technologies appears to be very similar, thus revealing the possibility of reducing the impact potentials associated to the SLM process with its continuous technological advancements, by making the process itself able to move from small to medium or high volume production rates.

Research paper thumbnail of Fuzzy decision-making in laser-assisted joining of polymer-metal hybrid structures

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Neural network implementation for the prediction of load curves of a flat head indenter on hot aluminum alloy

Research paper thumbnail of Combined Fuzzy and Genetic Algorithm for the Optimisation of Hybrid Composite-Polymer Joints Obtained by Two-Step Laser Joining Process

Materials

In the present work, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic were combined to model and optimise the s... more In the present work, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic were combined to model and optimise the shear strength of hybrid composite-polymer joints obtained by two step laser joining process. The first step of the process consists of a surface treatment (cleaning) of the carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate, by way of a 30 W nanosecond laser. This phase allows removing the first matrix layer from the CFRP and was performed under fixed process parameters condition. In the second step, a diode laser was adopted to join the CFRP to polycarbonate (PC) sheet by laser-assisted direct joining (LADJ). The experimentation was performed adopting an experimental plan developed according to the design of experiment (DOE) methodology, changing the laser power and the laser energy. In order to verify the cleaning effect, untreated laminated were also joined and tested adopting the same process conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted to detect the statistical influence of the...

Research paper thumbnail of High Power Diode Laser (HPDL) for Fatigue Life Improvement of Steel: Numerical Modelling

Research paper thumbnail of A workflow to generate physical 3D models of cerebral aneurysms applying open source freeware for CAD modeling and 3D printing

Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery

Research paper thumbnail of An optimized fuzzy-genetic algorithm for metal foam manufacturing process control

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of A fuzzy logic-based model in laser-assisted bending springback control

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Laser milling of yttria-stabilized zirconia by using a Q-switched Yb:YAG fiber laser: experimental analysis

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Research paper thumbnail of Aluminium foam production control by using a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model

Procedia CIRP, 2020

This study deals with the proposal of a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model able to describe t... more This study deals with the proposal of a combined fuzzy-genetic algorithm model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to the manufacture of aluminium foams by using the dissolution and sintering process. The combined method allows taking into account both the uncertainty related to the model and the statistical process variability, with the aim of controlling the capability of this material at absorbing compression energy, for different set of process parameters. The use of genetic algorithms allows the optimization of the fuzzy supports in order to take into account most of the experimental data in combination with the smallest uncertainty.

Research paper thumbnail of Springback control in laser-assisted bending manufacturing process by using a fuzzy uncertain model

Procedia CIRP, 2020

This study wants to propose a fuzzy model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to ... more This study wants to propose a fuzzy model able to describe the inherent uncertainties related to a laser-assisted bending process and it is aimed at controlling of the springback phenomena, for a different set of laser process parameters. The process maps obtained are used to select the operational parameters in order to obtain the desired process output, providing as additional information how much the uncertainty of the model and the process varies by changing those operational parameters. The fuzzy model has also been used to assess the optimal parameters in order to satisfy the requirement of the least-cost.