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Shows that ISP final prices are lower, Internet usage is higher, and the number of ISPs per head of population is lower in New Zealand relative to Australia. Goes on to argue that ISPs pose competitive threats for telecommunications companies and that New Zealand’s open competition regime, relative to Australia’s access regulations, has invited more efficient facilities competition.

The currently existing restrictions regarding the deployment of additively manufactured components because of poor surface roughness, porosity and residual stresses as well as their influence on the low-cycle fatigue (LCF) strength are addressed in this paper.

This study aims to evaluating the effect of different pre- and post-treatments on the LCF strength of additively manufactured 316L parts. Therefore, 316L specimens manufactured by laser powder bed fusion were examined in their as-built state as well as after grinding, or coating with regard to the surface roughness, residual stresses and LCF strength. To differentiate between topographical effects and residual stress-related phenomena, stress-relieved 316L specimens served as a reference throughout the investigations. To enable an alumina coating of the 316L components, atmospheric plasma spraying was used, and the near-surface residual stresses and the surface roughness are measured and investigated.

The results have shown that the applied pre- and post-treatments such as stress-relief heat treatment, grinding and alumina coating have each led to an increase in LCF strength of the 316L specimens. In contrast, the non-heat-treated specimens predominantly exhibited coating delamination.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of the correlation between the LCF behavior of additively manufactured uncoated 316L specimens in comparison with additively manufactured 316L specimens with an alumina coating.