S271 – The Use of Erbium Doped Glass Fiber Laser in Septoplasty

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of Erbium doped glass fiber laser in patients undergoing cartilage reshaping under local anesthesia. Methods A prospective study was conducted in 64 patients undergoing laser nasal septal cartilage reshaping. Micro-surgical sponges soaked in a tetracaine solution plus adrenalines were applied in each side of the nose for 10 minutes before the procedure. The cartilage of nasal septum was straightened and fixed in the median position using a modified nasal speculum. An optothermomechanical contactor with transparent indenter and thermocouple sensor was placed on septal regions of maximum mechanical stress. Patients were asked to evaluate the severity of pain during the procedure on a visual analog scale. A rhinomanometric evaluation was conducted prior to and after the procedure. All patients were asked to evaluate the improvement of their symptoms. All patients' data and potential complications were put in a database and were statistically assessed. Results Statistical analysis showed significant improvement of their symptoms and of rhinomanometric results. No complications or side effects occurred. The mean operative time was 35 minutes. Conclusions Septal cartilage reshaping is an easy, painless, and bloodless method using an Erbium doped glass fiber Laser. Laser device LSC-701 (Arcuo Medical Inc.) is an effective, safe, and inexpensive medical equipment.

Development of a Transparent Indenter Measurement System and Indentation Analysis for Material Mechanical Property Evaluation

Since Tabor showed the application of spherical indentation approach to obtain material post-yielding true stress-strain curves, the indentation technique has been investigated to determine mechanical properties besides hardness measurement. Accurate measurement of indentation parameters is critical in the determination of surface mechanical properties using indentation method. In this research, an in-situ optical Transparent Indenter Measurement (TIM) method was developed for material inspection and mechanical property measurement. Using spherical indentation, residual surface deformation after spherical indentations was first investigated on IN783 superalloy samples using phase-shifting Twyman-Green and moire´ interferometry. The elastic-plastic boundary was identified based on the characteristic of the out-of-plane deformation fringe patterns. Then using the measured in-plane deformation, yield strength of the tested material was obtained. Using the TIM system, real-time in-situ measurement of indentation-induced out-of-plane deformation and contact radius were directly measured during an indentation process. Coupled with elastic recovery theories and 2D finite element analyses, a procedure was developed to determine the material stress-strain curve. It is also demonstrated that the TIM method is suitable for debonding inspection of thin film materials.