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Distal nerve transfers are frequently used for the treatment of patients having brachial plexus injuries. Spinal accessory nerve to suprascapular nerve transfer by dorsal approach is advantageous since it brings the site of neurotization closer to the neuromuscular end plate and minimizes donor muscle weakness. This surgery is found to be challenging owing to the small and deep operative field. In this article, the authors describe the surgical technique for this procedure.

Background The first web space of the hand plays a crucial role in determining the hand's span. Our study aims to examine and quantify the first web space angle in both hands of adult individuals within the Indian population with no upper limb pathologies. The primary objective of this study is to establish normative data. These data will be useful in surgical correction for the first web release, recommending corrective splints, and calculating the percentage of disability in hand function.

Conventional machining has been replaced by unconventional machining in numerous industrial applications, avoiding the high tool cost involved. In the proposed study spark erosion machining uses molybdenum as the electrode (wire) material for machining of HCHCR D3 tool steel work piece material. Distilled water and kerosene in the ratio (10:1) is used as di-electric medium. The parameters like, pulse duration, pulse interval and gap voltage, were chosen as input factors and the output responses considered were amount of material removal rate (MRR) and roughness at the surface. Three parameters were considered at three different levels and totally nine experiments were conducted based on L9 orthogonal array. Experimental results were analysed by using Minitab software and from the analysis it was observed that pulse interval and gap voltage was more dominating in surface roughness and machining time. Pulse duration and gap voltage were influencing more in controlling MRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface composites are viable choices for various applications in the aerospace and automotive industries. Friction Stir Processing (FSP) is a promising method for fabricating surface composites. Aluminum Hybrid Surface Composites (AHSC) are fabricated using the FSP to strengthen a hybrid mixture prepared with equal parts of Boron carbide (B4C), Silicon Carbide (SiC), and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) particles. Different hybrid reinforcement weight percentages (reinforcement content of 5% (T1), 10% (T2), and 15% (T3)) were used in fabricating AHSC samples. Furthermore, different mechanical tests were performed on hybrid surface composite samples with different weight percentages of the reinforcements. Dry sliding wear assessments were performed in standard pin-on-disc apparatus as per ASTM G99 guidelines to estimate wear rates. The presence of reinforcement contents and dislocation behavior was investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies. The results indicated that the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of sample T3 exhibited 62.63% and 15.17% higher than that of samples T1 and T2, respectively, while the Elongation (%) of T3 exhibited 38.46% and 15.38% lower than that of samples T1 and T2, respectively. Moreover, it was found that the hardness of sample T3 increased in the stir zone compared to samples T1 and T2, owing to its higher brittle response. The higher brittle response of sample T3 compared to samples T1 and T2 was confirmed by the higher value of Young's modulus and the lower value of Elongation (%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present study reveals the importance of adding biosilica microparticle into Al-TiB2 (Titanium diboride) in situ metal matrix composites. The primary aim of this investigation was evaluating the importance of heat treatment and addition of biomass converted biosilica as natural reinforcement in strength improvement of Al-TiB2 in situ metal matrix composites. The biosilica particles were prepared via thermochemical route and mixed into the Al-TiB2 mixture via shear stirring. The composites were prepared using stir casting method followed by water quenching and aged at 175 °C for 7 hr. The density of composites revealed remarkable drop by adding significant volume of biosilica. The mechanical and wear behavior shows improvement in high biosilica content rather than TiB2 at water quenched composites. Similarly, the fatigue behavior of heat-treated 6wt.% biosilica-Al-TiB2 composite gives highest fatigue strength of 113.4 MPa. The microstructure shows more refined equiaxial fine grains with less void content in high volume biosilica dispersed water quenched Al-TiB2 in situ composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the effect of UV light on the mechanical properties of jute polymer nanocomposites was evaluated. Due to the fact that photodegradation is a surface process and is confined to the degradation of the mechanical characteristics of polyester resin, this study focuses on the resin quality. Therefore, test samples comprised of fibre-reinforced polyester nanoclay composites were fabricated different weight ratios of nanoclay. They were put through UV exposure in an Ultraviolet (UV) chamber. Tensile testing samples were made in accordance with ASTMD638 and had a minimum thickness of 3 mm. Additionally, specimens for Flexural and Impact testing were also produced. Samples were treated at various time intervals under UV radiation and their mechanical properties were determined. The effect of nano additives in preventing the deterioration of polyester's mechanical qualities was also investigated, and it was found that the addition of clay to polyester resin reduces the deterioration level by 19.86%, 9.38%, and 13.53% when compared to pure polyester resin's tensile, flexural, and impact properties, respectively. The results demonstrated that samples containing nano additives were less susceptible to UV damage than that of the samples without nanoclay. This is because of the fact that when clay was added to the polymer, its platelets totally exfoliated and acted as barriers against the entry of UV radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present study focuses on evaluation of mechanical properties of three dimensional (3D)-printed carbon fiber/polylactic acid (CF/PLA) composites, using fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique. The composites were prepared with different slicing parameters: layer heights or thicknesses, infill densities and layer patterns. The 3D-printed composite samples were subjected to tensile, flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests to assess the influence of the process parameters on their mechanical characteristics. Further investigations were carried out to evaluate the effect of surface roughness of the samples. From the test results, it was evident that both rectilinear and hexagonal layer patterns exhibited better mechanical properties at infill density and layer thickness of 60% and 0.64 mm, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images depicted that lesser layer thickness produced poor CF/PLA interfacial bonding and major failure mode was traced to fiber pull-out. Therefore, engineering application of the composite samples depends on their slicing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]