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A global epidemic caused by highly transmittable COVID-19 is causing severe loss of human life. In this study, two aspects of reducing transmission of COVID-19 virus, due to surface contact, are discussed: first refers to the effect of nanocarbon fullerene C 60 coating on surface, that causes lipid peroxidation on the phospholipid layer present in the outer envelope of COVID-19; the second aspect refers to creating hydrophobic surfaces by texturing them, so that the contact area between virus and surface is minimized due to the presence of entrapped air between the topographies. These can be similar to micro-/ nano-multiscale textured surfaces that have anti-biofouling properties. Fullerene-coated surfaces can be seen as a possible solution to decrease the adhesion of virus on the surface, as they will be hydrophobic as well as toxic to the envelope.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to systematically demonstrate the use of an effective multiple criteria decision-making technique, i.e. fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) in ranking the decision criteria of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire is specially designed and served to the industry experts to collect their opinion on several FMS decision criteria. Subsequently, fuzzy TOPSIS is used to prioritize the decision criteria. Findings Fuzzy TOPSIS multiple criteria decision-making technique is explained and applied to determine relative importance of the several decision criteria of FMS. This will help management of organizations in taking decision for implementing FMS in their organizations. From this study, it is found that customer satisfaction is the top most criterion among several other criteria for the successful implementation of FMS. Research limitations/implications In situation like the one considered in this research, there are dependencies and interactions among the criteria and, therefore, other techniques such as fuzzy analytic network process would have been a better choice. Nevertheless, fuzzy TOPSIS also provides good result as it incorporates vagueness associated with the decision maker’s opinion pertaining to the several FMS decision criteria. Originality/value This paper presents a fuzzy TOSIS model to help managers understand the relative importance of the several FMS decision criteria so that they can use this information for successful implementation of this advanced manufacturing technology in their organizations.

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Surface topography modifications using an ultra-short laser is a well-known technique to tune surface characteristics like hydrophobicity, anti-biofouling, anti-icing, enhanced lubrication, and several others. Understanding correlations between surface topography and laser parameters can help generate textures for many useful applications. In this work, the influence of instantaneous and delayed pulse overlap along with the effect of fluence on the femtosecond laser textured surface was investigated. The result shows that, an increase in 10 J/cm2 accumulated fluence can cause a 43% rise in oxygen level on surfaces, with the increase pulse overlap, an increase in the surface roughness (Sa) (0.08 to 0.2 μm) as well as height of the pillars (5–10 μm) was observed. A decrease in surface roughness was observed with a change in line overlap. Other results shows that the spacing between the lines can be increased with a decrease in the line overlap. At the lower pulse overlap, individual pulses were observed with diameter of 5 μm. In addition, the profiles of the microstructures also varied with laser parameters. Sharper pillars were observed at low value of fluence (4.78 J/cm2), whereas with an increase of 10% in pulse overlap along the scan direction, the height of the pillar increased by 5 μm. Larger burr formation and higher surface roughness Sa were observed on stainless steel substrates as compared to that of on Ti6Al4V substrates.