Tristan Shelley

Filament winding is one of the most prominent processes to produce lightweight composite products. The industry currently aims to digitalise and automate this complex, multi-phase manufacturing process to reduce costs and the turnaround time. Various digital tools are available for the design phase (part design, FEA, and fibre path generation), the process monitoring during the physical manufacturing (digital process parameter control), as well as in-line quality monitoring and final inspection. This work reviews these existing tools with a focus on the interaction with each other. A novel holistic digital thread is proposed that connects all the tools and the benefits to the entire process are outlined. It integrates all the tools into a single data flow to create a single data source, actively loops between different process steps, and controls parameters in order to optimise the process and the part's quality. A practical implementation pathway for the proposed digital thread is presented within an industrial context. The resulting benefits in process efficiency, traceability, and product quality are outlined, and key research and engineering challenges are identified.

The oil and gas industry generates substantial amounts of polymeric waste each year, including sucker rod guides manufactured from premium thermoplastics such as Polyphenylene Sulphide (PPS), Polyacrylamide (PAA), Polyamide (PA), and Polyether ether ketone (PEEK). It is estimated that, annually, approximately 18,600 metric tonnes of polymeric sucker rod guides are discarded worldwide, contributing significantly to landfill accumulation. This paper critically reviews the behaviour of polymeric rod guides when exposed to downhole environments where high temperature, pressure, contamination, and severe mechanical stresses act simultaneously. These components are essential in maintaining system reliability, yet research and development on polymeric rod guides remain limited, and investigations into their degradation and failure mechanisms are non-existent. In addition, there are currently no established approaches for recycling or reusing worn polymeric guides, which restricts progress toward sustainability and contributes to the increased accumulation of polymer waste in landfills. This review highlights these gaps and discusses future research directions that could improve the performance and service life of glass-fibre-reinforced polymeric components, while also creating opportunities for recycling and circular economy.

The demand for valuable and sustainable chemicals and nonfossil fuels, with a carbon‐neutral or zero‐carbon footprint from zero‐cost, abundant waste streams, has garnered significant interest in recent years. This has been driven by a global desire to transition to a circular economy, by reducing global reliance and eventually the need for fossil‐based resources. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), a thermal conversion technology, is widely used to recover carbon and energy from waste, avoiding the energy‐intensive drying process for high‐moisture feedstock, and operating at lower temperatures than conventional processes. The main product, waste‐derived hydrochar (WHC), has attracted growing interest in electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices (e.g., rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors) due to its straightforward process, favorable properties, high carbon conversion, and environmental benefits. Hence, this critical review will provide the reader with a better understanding of the principles, technical feasibility, and limitations of carbon conversion from waste through various conversion pathways. Moreover, it presents detailed state‐of‐the‐art studies previously reported on WHC production using one‐step direct carbonization (DC) and the two‐step HTC followed by DC for electrochemical energy storage applications, with a focus on the role of WHC‐based electrodes. Lastly, the challenges and prospects for developing WHC materials for EES applications are examined.

Mycelium-based composites (MBCs) are an emerging category of cost-effective and environmentally sustainable materials that are attracting significant research and commercial interest across various industries, including construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and biomedicine. These materials harness the natural growth of fungi as a low-energy bio-fabrication method, converting abundant agricultural by-products and waste into sustainable alternatives to energy-intensive synthetic construction materials. Their affordability and eco-friendly characteristics make them attractive for both research and commercialisation. Currently, mycelium-based foams and sandwich composites are being actively developed for applications in construction. These materials offer exceptional thermal insulation, excellent acoustic absorption, and superior fire safety compared to conventional building materials like synthetic foams and engineered wood. As a result, MBCs show great potential for applications in thermal and acoustic insulation. However, their foam-like mechanical properties, high water absorption, and limited documentation of material properties restrict their use to non- or semi-structural roles, such as insulation, panelling, and furniture. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the fabrication process and the factors affecting the production and performance properties of MBCs. It addresses key elements such as fungal species selection, substrate choice, optimal growth conditions, dehydration methods, post-processing techniques, mechanical and physical properties, termite resistance, cost comparison, and life cycle assessment.

Scaphoid nonunion is a complication that occurs in 5-10% of patients who sustain an acute scaphoid fracture. There is no superior method for managing scaphoid nonunion that has been established in the current literature. The use of patient specific devices has been explored as a way to improve surgical management of scaphoid nonunion. 3D printing has made the production of patient specific devices more accessible. CT and MRI images can be used to model devices such as anatomic models and surgical guides. In this review we aim to discuss the current evidence for the use of patient specific devices for managing chronic scaphoid nonunion and demonstrate their different uses. A scoping review of peer-reviewed literature, existing patent applications, and grey literature was performed. Although the current research has demonstrated some possible benefits such as reduction in surgical time and accuracy of restoration of anatomy, further investigation with comparative studies is required to make conclusions about the superiority of these techniques over standard freehand techniques.

Mycelium-based composites (MBC) are an emerging category of cost-effective and environmentally sustainable materials that are attracting significant research and commercial interest across various industries, including construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and biomedicine. These materials harness the natural growth of fungi as a low-energy bio-fabrication method, converting abundant agricultural by-products and waste into sustainable alternatives to energy-intensive synthetic construction materials. Their affordability and eco-friendly characteristics make them attractive for both research and commercialisation. Currently, mycelium-based foams and sandwich composites are being actively developed for applications in construction. These materials offer exceptional thermal insulation, excellent acoustic absorption, and superior fire safety compared to conventional building materials like synthetic foams and engineered wood. As a result, MBC show great potential for applications in thermal and acoustic insulation. However, their foam-like mechanical properties, high water absorption, and limited documentation of material properties restrict their use to non- or semi-structural roles, such as insulation, panelling, and furniture. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the fabrication process and the factors affecting the production and performance properties of MBC. It addresses key elements such as fungal species selection, substrate choice, optimal growth conditions, dehydration methods, post-processing techniques, mechanical and physical properties, termite resistance, cost comparison, and life cycle assessment.

Sustainability is crucial to the ongoing capability of Earth to sustain life. Although understood in several ways, such as climate change education, education for sustainable development and education for sustainability, international efforts have promoted sustainability as an important focus for education. In Australia, this focus is reflected in sustainability being embedded in the Australian Curriculum. Australian and international researchers have found that teachers generally understand sustainability and are favourably disposed toward it, but implementation remains an issue. This paper reports findings from an online survey administered to Australian preservice and in-service teachers. Echoing previous research with teachers, participants in this study had a positive attitude towards sustainability but lacked key knowledge and confidence to teach appropriate sustainability ideas within the Australian Curriculum. As such, the implementation of the sustainability cross-curriculum priority area seems inconsistent and there is a need to support teachers through curriculum resources, professional development, and ongoing mentoring.

Material defects (MD) represent a primary challenge affecting product performance and giving rise to safety issues in related products. The rapid and accurate identification and localization of MD constitute crucial research endeavors in addressing contemporary challenges associated with MD. In recent years, propelled by the swift advancement of machine learning (ML) technologies, particularly exemplified by deep learning, ML has swiftly emerged as the core technology and a prominent research direction for material defect detection (MDD). Through a comprehensive review of the latest literature, we systematically survey the ML techniques applied in MDD into five categories: unsupervised learning, supervised learning, semi-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and generative learning. We provide a detailed analysis of the main principles and techniques used, together with the advantages and potential challenges associated with these techniques. Furthermore, the survey focuses on the techniques for defect detection in composite materials, which are important types of materials enjoying increasingly wide application in various industries such as aerospace, automotive, construction, and renewable energy. Finally, the survey explores potential future directions in MDD utilizing ML technologies. This survey consolidates ML-based MDD literature and provides a foundation for future research and practice.