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Excessive sodium intake is associated with several diseases. Accordingly, several measures, including microparticulate salt, have been adopted to reduce the salt contents of food products. However, no studies have reported the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in semisolid and liquid products. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the application of microparticulate salt to reduce sodium contents in semisolid products.

The optimal salt content to be added in butter was defined by the just-about-right-scale test. Butter samples were prepared using microparticulate salt to achieve 25, 50 and 75 per cent reductions in conventional salt concentrations. Multiple comparison tests were performed to evaluate sample taste.

The ideal concentration of conventional salt to be added to butter was 2.16 per cent. Discriminative tests showed that samples with 25 and 75 per cent salt reduction showed significant differences (p ⩽ 0.05) compared with butter prepared at the ideal salt content, whereas the sample with 50 per cent salt reduction had no significant difference (p > 0.05). Thus, microparticulate salt showed higher salting power than conventional salt. These results indicated the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in the preparation of semisolid products with sodium reduction.

More detailed studies about the reduced-sodium butter shelf life are necessary to verify the microparticulate salt application in the product preparation. Moreover, microparticulate salt application in semisolid and liquid products elaboration must be more investigated to better elucidate its practicability of reducing sodium content in these kinds of products. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

Microparticulate salt has been successfully applied to reduce sodium in solid products, being added to the finished product surface. However, there are no studies that report its effectiveness in semisolid and liquid products, such as the butter, in which the salt is added during the product preparation. Thus, this research provides new scientific information to the food industry and research fields, to expand the knowledge of reduced-sodium products development using microparticulate salt with sensory quality.

No studies have evaluated the application of microparticulate salt for semisolid product preparation. Therefore, the findings will support the development of healthy products.

This paper aims to introduce selective vacuum manufacturing (SVM), a powder-based rapid prototyping (RP) technique, and the ongoing development to improve its capability to apply in temporary scaffold fabrication.

SVM employs a combination of sand casting and powder sintering process to construct a prototype layer by layer. A dense layer of support material is prepared and selectively removed to create a cavity where part material is filled and sintered to form a solid layer. In order for SVM to be considered for scaffold fabrication, besides preparing poly-lactic acid (PLA) for part material, support material preparation and process parameters identification have been studied. Redesigning of SVM machine to be more suitable for the real usage has also been presented.

Particle size of salt has been controlled, and its suitable composition with flour and water has been determined. Process parameters have been identified to scale down the size of scaffolds to meso-scale and to achieve mechanical requirement. Properties of fabricated scaffolds have been enhanced and can be used for soft tissue applications. A prototype of the medical SVM machine has been constructed and tested. An examination of scaffolds fabricated on this new machine also showed their qualification for soft tissue application.

Further study will be on conducting a direct cytotoxicity test to provide the evidence for tissue growth before the clinical usage, on continuing to scaling down the scaffold size, and on improving SVM to meet the requirement of hard tissue.

This simple, inexpensive RP technique demonstrates its viability for scaffold fabrication.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a risk management framework, combined with Six Sigma tool and techniques, to help handle the undesired effects that can occur during the project execution. There exist various risk management methodologies but none of them provide an efficient framework and tools to handle undesired effects. In this paper, the goal is to assist practitioners in management of risks.

The author defines a new risk management framework on the basis of critical review of previous research applied in the industry related to different manufacturing, construction, HR, Marketing, IT and other domains. The strengths and weaknesses of these methods have been compared through empirical analysis based on real‐life case studies.

An enhanced framework is developed for handling, management and analysis of risk associated with the projects. An extended model is presented by combining the previous risk management methodologies with Six Sigma methodologies, in order to achieve both improvement and minimization of risks simultaneously. The risk management framework defined in project management lacks compatibility and enhancement with the handling in real‐time projects. By combining a number of methodologies, after critical study of related frameworks, it has been possible to devise a framework which has proved to be beneficial.

The model defined in the paper is based on implementation and approvals from the management and takes time for implementation of Six Sigma. Currently the enhanced model is implemented in a single process in a real‐time industry to validate the model. A through study and knowledge of processes with data is required in order to implement the model.

The proposed model achieves higher organizational performance by motivation and training of its employees handling large‐scale projects. This has increased the knowledge of persons by minimizing the barrier to change management; hence, achieving organizational excellence and project management with ease.

The methodology will help organizations, especially in the manufacturing industry, to minimize the risks in both pre‐execution and post‐execution of projects. It enables overall improvement of organization with total product management, root cause analysis, project management knowledge areas and combination of Six Sigma tools. It also makes the knowledge management concept possible within the framework, to maintain the flow of knowledge throughout the organization. It has decreased dependency on a single person and promotes team management concepts with shared work values.

The complexity of atmospheric corrosion, further compounded by the effects of climate change, makes existing models inappropriate for corrosion prediction. The commonly used kinetic model and dose-response functions are restricted in their capacity to represent the non-linear behaviour of corrosion phenomena. The application of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven machine learning algorithms to corrosion data can better represent the corrosion mechanism by considering the dynamic behaviour due to changing climatic conditions. Effective use of materials, coating systems and maintenance strategies can then be made with such a corrosivity model. Accurate corrosion prediction will help to improve climate change resilience of the social, economic and energy infrastructure in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 13 (Climate Action). This chapter discusses atmospheric corrosion prediction in relation to the SDGs and the influence of AI in overcoming the challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to study the transition process from the crystalline particles appearing before the pump inlet to the stable operation of the pump.

Firstly, a modeling test method was put forward for the high-temperature molten salt pump. Then, according to a modeling test scheme, the experiment of the solid–liquid two-phase flow was carried out by using a model pump similar to the prototype pump. Meanwhile, the numerical method to simulate the transition process of a molten salt pump was studied, and the correctness of the numerical model was verified by the experimental results. Finally, the transition process of the molten salt pump was studied by the verified numerical model in detail.

In the simulation of the transition process, it is more accurate to judge the end of the transition process based on the unchanged particle volume fraction (PVF) at the pump outlet than on the periodic fluctuation of the outlet pressure. The outlet pressure is closely related to the PVF in the pump. The variation of the outlet pressure is slightly prior to that of the PVF at the pump outlet and mainly affected by the PVF in the impeller and volute. After 0.63 s, the PVF at each monitoring point changes periodically, and the time-averaged value does not change with time.

This study is of great significance to further improve the design method of molten salt pump and predict the abrasion characteristic of the pump due to interactions with solid particles.

A numerical method is established to simulate the transition process of a molten salt pump, and a method is proposed to verify the numerical model of two-phase flow by modeling test.

Despite the dramatic increase in construction toward additive manufacturing, several challenges are faced using natural materials such as Earth and salt compared to the most market-useable materials in 3D printing as concrete which consumes high carbon emission.

Characterization and mechanical tests were conducted on 19 samples for three natural binders in dry and wet tests to mimic the additive manufacturing process in order to reach an efficient extrudable and printable mixture that fits the 3D printer.

Upon testing compressive strength against grain size, compaction, cohesion, shape, heat and water content, X-Salt was shown to record high compressive strength of 9.5 MPa. This is equivalent to old Karshif and fire bricks and surpasses both rammed Earth and new Karshif. Material flow analysis for X-Salt assessing energy usage showed that only 10% recycled waste was produced by the end of the life cycle compared to salt.

Findings are expected to upscale the use of 3D salt printing in on-site and off-site architectural applications.

Findings contribute to attempts to resolve challenges related to vernacular architecture using 3D salt printing with sufficient stability.

Benefits include recyclability and minimum environmental impact. Social aspects related to technology integration remain however for further research.

This paper expands the use of Karshif, a salt-based traditional building material in Egypt's desert by using X-Salt, a salt-base and natural adhesive, and investigating its printability by testing its mechanical properties to reach a cleaner and low-cost sustainable 3D printed mixture.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the fundamentals of the selective inhibition sintering (SIS) process for fabricating dense metallic parts.

A SIS‐Metal process based on the microscopic mechanical inhibition is developed. In the process, salt solution is printed in the selected area of each powder layer; the salt re‐crystallizes when water evaporates; salt crystals decompose and grow rapidly prior to sintering; the generated salt particles spread between metal powder particles and prevent the fusing of these particles together, hence inhibiting the sintering process in the affected regions.

The SIS‐Metal process has numerous advantages. An inhibition of sintering mechanism is established for the future development of the technology. Through chemical and visual analysis using STM the mechanism for the inhibition phenomenon has been identified.

Only bronze powder has been used in the research. Accordingly, the inhibition chemical has been engineered for this material choice. The approach should be feasible for other metals but a proper inhibitor would need to be found for each material choice.

The only limitation envisioned for the process may be the removal after sintering of inhibited sections in hard‐to reach areas using physical means such as scraping or vibration. Chemical removal of such sections should be possible, however.

The paper illustrates a new additive manufacturing technology for metallic parts fabrication.

The aim of the work is to develop an anticorrosion pigment based on an oxide mixture with lamellar particles. The pigments are prepared from lamellar zinc, zinc oxide and magnetite by calcination. An alkaline earth carbonate is added when embedding a third cation in the lattice of the ferrite that forms the envelope of the lamellar zinc. The properties of the pigments are tested both in the powdered state and when embedded in an epoxy-ester system using different pigment volume concentrations (PVC).

The properties of paints containing synthesised oxide mixture-based pigments at various volume concentrations and with the Q factor – Q = PVC/CPVC = 0.65 – were examined (where CPVC is critical pigment volume concentration). A series of isometric ferrite pigments were also synthesised for a comparison. Paints of both types with PVC = 10, 15 and 20 per cent were formulated. Steel panels coated with the paints were subjected to corrosion and mechanical tests.

The oxide mixtures with lamellar particles were subjected to particle size analysis and found to make up a broad distribution curve. Electron microscopy photographs confirmed that the oxide mixture pigments contained lamellar particles with a surface layer. A high anticorrosion effect was achieved owing to the combination of different oxide types.

The properties of the oxide mixtures with lamellar particles are described. Their particle distribution curves can be obtained by particle size analysis methods with a view to obtaining additional information on the status and properties of the pigment particles that may be useful in the development of better paints/coating materials.

Oxide mixtures with lamellar particles can be used in paints protecting construction steel.

The composition of the prepared oxide mixture-based pigments is novel. Each oxide acts by its own anticorrosion mechanism and the final beneficial effect is due to their concerted action.

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to prepare modified C.I. Pigment Red (PR) 170 to reduce production cost and improve application performance. The structure of the modified pigment was characterised. The colour strength, thermal stability, mobility, aqueous dispersability and ultraviolet (UV) resistance of modified pigments were studied.

Silica fume was added into the diazonium salt solution under acidic condition, followed by the activation to generate new surface. Subsequently, coupling component was dropwise added to the system to form the modified pigments evenly on the surface of silica fume in situ. The structure and properties of the modified pigment were studied by fourier transform infrared spectoscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermal gravity analysis (TG-DTA), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-Vis DRS), and commission internationale de L‘Eclairage (CIE L*a*b*) colour measurements.

The morphology and particle size of the modified pigment were controlled by the modification of the silica fume, and the organic pigment and silica fume formed a core–shell structure. The properties of the modified pigment including colour strength, thermal stability, mobility, aqueous dispensability and UV resistance were improved significantly.

The effect of the amount of silica fume on the thickness of the organic pigment layer and the effect of the thickness of the organic pigment layer on the properties of the modified pigment need to be studied further.

This paper shows a feasible method of the modification of the PR170 with the silica fume, and the modification can improve the properties of the PR170. The use of silica fume to modify organic pigment can realise the reuse of solid waste and reduce the production cost of the organic pigment.

This modification method of the organic pigment is adaptive and it can be adjusted to the modification of other species of the organic pigment.

The modification of the PR170 with the silica fume was carried out in its preparation process, which synchronised the preparation and modification of the organic pigment. The properties of the modified pigment were improved, which were beneficial for their application in inks and coatings.

The purpose of this paper is to study the dimensionless characteristics of a molten salt pump and propose an approach to carry out the modeling experiment by using water instead of molten salts.

External characteristics of the pump were estimated by using the steady flow model and compared with the experimental results. By taking water as the working fluid, the pathlines in the volute of the model pump were validated by the results obtained of high-speed photography. According to the derived dimensionless characteristics of the molten salt pump, the modeling experimental schemes were proposed. Adopting the validated numerical simulation model, the performance of the molten salt pump was studied in detail.

The modeling experimental schemes designed according to the dimensionless characteristics are theoretically feasible. However, to carry out the experiment successfully, factors such as rotational speed, geometric size, flow rate and head should be taken into account. The flow in the pumps is similar under the similar operating condition and the external characteristics of the similar pump can be converted to each other. Compared with transporting water, the decline of the head and efficiency is within 5 per cent when the viscosity is lower than 0.01453 Pa · s. The pump is not suitable for running under the critical Reynolds number of 1.0 × 10⁷.

The current work revealed the relationships among the dimensionless performances of a molten salt pump and proposed a critical Reynolds number Re_Qcr for the pump running.