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The purpose of this paper is to offer an overview of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of school libraries’ impact on academic performance in secondary education in Greece, using sociological analysis to assess the data and contextualise it in the particular case and social context of Greece after the crisis.

This paper developed structured questionnaires for the key categories of users visiting school libraries, teachers and students, trying to explore a set of questions which would give us a better image of their behaviour. The results from our empirical study, following the creation and distribution of a purpose made questionnaire in secondary schools in the area of Athens, was then evaluated in the context of sociological analysis. This paper argued that social factors may explain discrepancy in opinions regarding school libraries’ (SLs) role.

The data which the paper present elucidates, not only the frequency and ways in which pupils of an age up to 14 years use SLs but also their own and their teachers’ assumptions as to the degree in which SLs affect their performance. In this way, the data documents currently dominant perceptions of key categories of users in the Greek context but also reveals, via its critical assessment, the kinds of social factors that enhanced or hindered its impact on learning and academic performance in secondary education in Greece.

The paper consists of a study based on a limited sample of users from Greek schools in Athens; hence, its results are indicative.

The paper considers possibilities in which educational and cultural policies in relation to SLs should shift attention following the findings and their interpretation.

The paper provides policy implications regarding Greek education. The paper provides some recommendations as to ways in which SLs and research in their users may provide a fresh way of implementing strategies as to their role in Greek education in the period of recession.

This study focuses exclusively on the Greek context, taking into consideration, for the analysis of the data derived from the empirical survey undertaken in Greek schools, sociological parameters tied to the Greek context after the crisis.

Considers efforts to date to produce parts by direct selective laser sintering (SLS) of metals, including post processing to improve structural integrity and/or to induce a transformation. Provides a brief overview of the basic principles of SLS machine operation, and discusses materials issues affecting direct SLS of metals and the resultant properties and microstructures of the parts. Reviews results of past efforts on SLS of metal systems such as Cu‐Sn, Cu‐Solder (Pb‐Sn), Ni‐Sn, pre‐alloyed bronze (Cu‐Sn). Finally discusses more recent efforts on SLS of bronze‐nickel powder mixtures in greater detail.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the energy consumed to fabricate nylon parts using selective laser sintering (SLS) and to compare it with the energy consumed for injection molding (IM) the same parts.

Estimates of energy consumption include the energy consumed for nylon material refinement, adjusted for SLS and IM process yields. Estimates also include the energy consumed by the SLS and IM equipment for part fabrication and the energy consumed to machine the injection mold and refine the metal feedstock required to fabricate it. A representative part is used to size the injection mold and to quantify throughput for the SLS machine per build.

Although SLS uses significantly more energy than IM during part fabrication, this energy consumption is partially offset by the energy consumption associated with production of the injection mold. As a result, the energy consumed per part for IM decreases with the number of parts fabricated while the energy consumed per part for SLS remains relatively constant as long as builds are packed efficiently. The crossover production volume, at which IM and SLS consume equivalent amounts of energy per part, ranges from 50 to 300 representative parts, depending on the choice of mold plate material.

The research is limited to material refinement and part fabrication and does not consider other aspects of the life cycle, such as waste disposal, distributed 2 manufacturing, transportation, recycling or use. Also, the crossover volumes are specific to the representative part and are expected to vary with part geometry.

The results of this comparative study of SLS and IM energy consumption indicate that manufacturers can save energy using SLS for parts with small production volumes. The comparatively large amounts of nylon material waste and energy consumption during fabrication make it inefficient, from an energy perspective, to use SLS for higher production volumes. The crossover production volume depends on the geometry of the part and the choice of material for the mold.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of a combination of selective laser sintering (SLS) and vacuum casting to create plastic composites made by additive manufacturing.

The research has been carried out by approaching a new concept of the final part consistent in a plastic component, where the main body is made by SLS and the internal long fibres for reinforcing are made by vacuum casting of high-resistance epoxy resin. The part is designed for optimal number and distribution of the internal fibres taking into account the target relative stiffness (N/mm*kg). The methodology is applied to a pedal clutch of a car which has been tested in an equipment for fatigue and durability, being compared to the correspondent design for injection moulding.

Research has proven that the approach introduces relevant improvement in mechanical properties of the base resin consistent in PA 3200GF (EOS), reinforced by internal long fibres of resin VG SP5. Experiments showed significant increase of stiffness in the pedal clutch made under this procedure, where the stiffness was 77 per cent higher than the conventional SLS part and only 11.7 per cent lower than the one made by injection moulding of PA 66 with 50 per cent fibreglass.

The developed method introduces an alternative procedure for increasing the mechanical properties of plastic parts developed in SLS. Optimal orientation and distribution of long fibres clearly achieves better mechanical properties at low cost.

Gives a brief overview of post‐processing of selective laser sintered (SLS) metal parts to improve structural integrity and/or to induce a material transformation. Presents results which show the effect of post‐processing liquid phase sintering temperature and time on material properties. Describes the hot isostatic pressing process, and discusses its application to SLS metal parts. Results gained from using this process show that it is suitable for achieving almost full‐density parts.

Describes historical development of the School Library Services in England and Wales prior to discussing responses to the Education Reform Act 1988. In a more business‐oriented culture and concerned with the survival of their services, managers are seeking to innovate and to introduce strategic planning and marketing practices. Discusses a survey of the particular responses of a number of local authorities.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and develop PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide before directly using it in selective laser sintering (SLS) machine to produce end-use products for low-volume production in the engineering applications with keen focus to meet the functional requirements which rely on material properties.

The methodology reported emphasises PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide development for SLS process which starts with preparation and characterisation of composite material, thermal and rheological study of composite material to decide optimum process parameters for SLS process machine to get optimal part properties. Further, to verify composite material properties, a conventional casting methodology is used. The composition of composite materials those possessing good properties are further selected for processing in SLS process under optimal processing parameters.

The process parameters of SLS machine are material-dependent. The effect of temperature in X-ray diffraction profile is negligible in the case of magnesium oxide reinforced PA2200 composite material. The cyclic heating of material increases melting point temperature, this grounds to modify part bed temperature of material every time before processing on SLS machine to uphold build part properties, as well as material. With the rise in temperature, the Melt flow index and rheological property of materials change. The magnesium oxide reinforced PA2200 composite material has high thermal stability than pure PA2200 material. By the addition of small quantity of magnesium oxide, most of the mechanical property and flammability property improves while elongation at break (percentage) decreases significantly.

The proposed PA2200-based composite powder containing 0-15 Wt.% magnesium oxide material development system and casting metrology to verify developed material properties will be very useful to develop new composite material for SLS process with use of less material. The developed methodology has proven, especially in the case where non-experts or student need to develop composite material for SLS process according to the property requirement of applications.

Unlike earlier composite material development methodology, the projected methodology of polymer-based composite material and confirmation of material properties instead of commencing SLS process provides straight forward means for SLS process composite materials development with less use of the material and period of time.

This study aims to report the preparation, selective laser sintering (SLS) processing and properties of a new nylon elastomer powder. The effects of solvent, dissolution temperature and time and cooling method and speed on the particle size and morphologies of the prepared nylon elastomer powder are investigated.

The prepared nylon elastomer power possesses the particle size of around 50 mm and is spherical in shape, indicating that this study provides the feasible dissolution-precipitation process, a distillation cooling method and a suitable solvent to prepare nylon elastomer powders.

Compared to pure nylon 12, the nylon elastomer has a lower part bed temperature and a wider sintering window for the SLS process. The wider sintering window indicates the better SLS processibility. The lower part bed temperature is beneficial to the recycling of material and the decrease in the requirement of SLS equipment.

The nylon elastomer in this study has a lower part bed temperature and a wider sintering window for the SLS process. The wider sintering window indicates better SLS processibility. The lower part bed temperature is beneficial to the recycling of material and the decrease in the requirement of SLS equipment.

This work is focused on the investigation of direct production of electrical discharge machining (EDM) electrodes through the selective laser sintering (SLS) technique using a new metal-matrix composite material made of molybdenum and a copper-nickel alloy (Mo-CuNi). The influence and optimization of the main SLS parameters on the densification behavior and porosity is experimentally studied. Additionally, EDM experiments are performed to evaluate the electrodes performance under different machining conditions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The new EDM electrode material used was a powder system composed of Mo and pre-alloyed CuNi. A systematic experimental methodology was designed to evaluate the effects of layer thickness, laser scan speed and hatch distance. The densification behavior, porosity and surface morphology of the samples were analyzed through microstructural and surface analysis. EDM experiments were conducted under three different regimes in order to observe the electrodes behavior and performance. The results were compared with copper powder electrodes manufactured by SLS and solid copper electrodes EDMachined under the same conditions.

The experimental results showed that the direct SLS manufacturing of composite electrodes is feasible and an adequate combination of parameters can produce parts with good quality. The laser scan speed has a great effect on the densification behavior of the samples, while the effect of hatch distance on the porosity is more visible when the overlapping degree is considered. The overlapping also had a significant effect on the surface morphology. The EDM results showed that the Mo-CuNi electrodes had superior performance to the copper powder electrodes made by SLS for all the EDM regimes applied, but inferior to those achieved with solid copper electrodes.

Significant results on the direct SLS manufacturing of a new material which has a great technological potential to be used as an EDM electrode material are presented. Valuable guidelines are given in regard to the SLS optimization of Mo-CuNi material and its performance as an EDM electrode. This work also provides a systematic methodology designed to be applied to the SLS process to produce EDM electrodes.

This work aims to investigate the direct production of electrical discharge machining (EDM) electrodes by means of the selective laser sintering (SLS) technique using a new non-conventional metal-matrix composite material (TiB₂-CuNi). The influence and optimization of the main SLS parameters on the densification behavior and porosity is experimentally studied. EDM experiments are also performed to evaluate the electrodes performance.

The new EDM electrode material used was a powder system composed of TiB₂ and CuNi. Making use of a designed systematic experimental methodology, the effects of layer thickness, laser scan speed and scan line spacing were optimized, where aspects such as densification behavior, porosity and surface morphology of the samples were analyzed through microstructural and surface analysis. EDM experiments were conducted under three different regimes in order to observe the electrodes behavior and performance. The results were compared with copper powder electrodes manufactured by SLS and EDMachined under the same conditions.

The experimental results showed that the direct SLS manufacturing of composite electrodes is feasible and promising. The laser scan speed has a high effect on the densification behavior of the samples, while the effect of scan line spacing on the porosity is more visible when the overlapping degree is considered. Surface morphology was not affected by the scan line spacing, whereas balling phenomenon was reported, regardless of the scan line spacing. The EDM results showed that the TiB₂-CuNi electrodes had a much superior performance than the copper powder electrodes made by SLS, regardless of the EDM regime applied.

Generally, the machine tool itself promotes some restrictions to the SLS process optimization. It is normally attributed to the characteristics of the laser type and the amount of energy that can be delivered to the powder bed. The present investigation could not cover all the optimization potential involved with the studied material due to limitations of the SLS machine tool used.

Significant results on the direct SLS manufacturing of a new non-conventional composite material, which has a great technological potential to be used as an EDM electrode material, are presented. Valuable guidelines are given in regard to the SLS optimization of TiB₂-CuNi material and its performance as an EDM electrode. This work also provides a systematic methodology designed to be applied to the SLS process to produce EDM electrodes.