The Natural History and Clinical Syndromes of Degenerative Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis is a broad term which describes the age related chronic disc degeneration, which can also affect the cervical vertebrae, the facet and other joints and their associated soft tissue supports. Evidence of spondylitic change is frequently found in many asymptomatic adults. Radiculopathy is a result of intervertebral foramina narrowing. Narrowing of the spinal canal can result in spinal cord compression, ultimately resulting in cervical spondylosis myelopathy. This review article examines the current literature in relation to the cervical spondylosis and describes the three clinical syndromes of axial neck pain, cervical radiculopathy and cervical myelopath

Low temperature growth technique for nanocrystalline cuprous oxide thin films using microwave plasma oxidation of copper

We report on the direct formation of phase pure nanocrystalline cuprous oxide (Cu2O) film with band gap ~ 2 eV by microwave plasma oxidation of pulsed dc magnetron sputtered Cu films and the highly controlled oxidation of Cu in to Cu2O and CuO phases by controlling the plasma exposure time. The structural, morphological and optoelectronic properties of the films were investigated. p-type Cu2O film with a grain size ~20-30 nm, resistivity of ~66 Ω cm and a hole concentration of ~2×1017 cm-3 is obtained for a plasma exposure time of 10 min without using any foreign dopants. The optical absorption coefficient (~105 cm-1) of the Cu2O film is also reported

The Natural History and Clinical Syndromes of Degenerative Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis is a broad term which describes the age related chronic disc degeneration, which can also affect the cervical vertebrae, the facet and other joints and their associated soft tissue supports. Evidence of spondylitic change is frequently found in many asymptomatic adults. Radiculopathy is a result of intervertebral foramina narrowing. Narrowing of the spinal canal can result in spinal cord compression, ultimately resulting in cervical spondylosis myelopathy. This review article examines the current literature in relation to the cervical spondylosis and describes the three clinical syndromes of axial neck pain, cervical radiculopathy and cervical myelopath

Laser-powder bed fusion of silicon carbide reinforced 316L stainless steel using a sinusoidal laser scanning strategy

Laser-powder bed fusion was identified as a promising technique for manufacturing metal matrix composites. However, over a decade later, little progress has been made in addressing the persisting issues hindering the wider exploitation and industrial usage of metal matrix composites. Therefore, the present study proposes the implementation of a feasible solution to accomplish research advancements in metal matrix composites. Where, the issues concerning their performance and cost have driven this study towards the development of a novel scanning strategy. A hatching system based on a sine wave was successfully developed and employed in the printing of metal matrix composites. Composites printed using the sinusoidal hatching exhibited an enhanced yield strength and ductility owing to the resultant grain refinement and texture. The dabber mode formation of material tracks promoted the growth of highly oriented intragranular cellular structures. Apart for playing an important role at the obtained hardness, this control over the cellular growth could also be used towards improving composite toughness. Additionally, besides improving composite performance, the sinusoidal hatching was also effective in reducing manufacturing lead time and process energy consumption

Laser-powder bed fusion in-process dispersion of reinforcing ceramic nanoparticles onto powder beds via colloid nebulisation

Functionally grading material composition in laser-powder bed fusion grants the potential for manufacturing complex components with tailored properties. The challenge in achieving this is that the current laser-powder bed fusion machine technology is designed to process only powdered feedstock materials. This study presents a multi-feedstock material printing methodology for laser-powder bed fusion. Utilising colloid nebulisation, tungsten carbide nanoparticles were successfully deposited onto powder beds of stainless steel 316L during the laser-powder bed fusion process. By this means, a controlled volume of tungsten carbide nanoparticles was uniformly dispersed onto powder beds under the inert processing chamber atmosphere. As a result, specimens printed with this methodology showed an increase in strength. Similarly, the colloid medium played an important role in the resulting microstructures. It led to the formation of consistent and stable meltpools and a strong crystallographic texture. Recommendations are given for the successful dispersion of higher volumes of nanoparticles. Additionally, insights into application prospects for material nebulisation in laser-powder bed fusion are presented and discussed

Evaluation via powder metallurgy of nano-reinforced iron powders developed for selective laser melting applications

In this work, a gas atomised stainless steel AISI 316L powder was used as metal matrix and SiC was employed as a nano reinforcement. The powders were experimentally characterised to determine the effect of the morphology, size, and levels of reinforcement on the powder flowability. The powder was developed via the powder metallurgy route and the effect of material, process conditions and various levels of reinforcement were investigated through the microhardness of the sintered samples. Sintered samples produced from the 316L+SiC+PVA powder mixes presented improved hardness. Analysis of the Energy Dispersive X-ray measurements detected high intensity levels of carbon and silicon on the surface of the reinforced 316L particles. In terms of measured powder rheology, the 6 wt. % SiC coated 316L provided the highest flowability of the prepared SiC coated 316L powders and a much higher flowability than the as received 316L powder. All prepared SiC coated 316L powders showed good flowability and highly repeatable powder rheology. The high degree of flowability was attributed to the particle spherical morphology, the narrow range of particle size distribution and also the coating of nano SiC particles on the 316L particles which were found to act in this case as a solid lubricant. A successful homogeneous and uniform reinforcement of SiC onto the surface particles was resultant from the established mixing technique. While the nano-SiC improved the powder fluidity, the obtained improvement in hardness was also due to the nano-SiC dissolution and resultant precipitates formed during the thermal treatment

Assessing dependency of part properties on the printing location in laser-powder bed fusion metal additive manufacturing

Despite the accelerated growth of laser-powder bed fusion in recent years, there are still major obstacles to be overcome before the technology enjoys truly widespread adoption. These include inconsistent part quality and repeatability issues linked to variability in the properties of printed parts. Commonly, the print location across the build platform is overlooked and assumed to have little or no effect on the overall part properties. There is a lack of previous systematic studies and a lack of knowledge of the influences of the location parameter on the final part properties. Therefore, to address the existing problem, the current study completely isolated the location parameter to accurately assess any effect of this variable on the microstructure and mechanical properties of laser-powder bed fusion manufactured parts. The results revealed the importance of the build location and showed that there is correlation between the location parameter and part properties as qualitative and quantitative properties of printed parts varied between the selected extremity locations. The findings highlight the importance of considering the location of the part being printed on the build platform and how the location may need to be fixed for multiple builds in order to achieve acceptable repeatability