ARCHWIRES

IN
ORTHODONTICS

Presented by : Dr. Divya Maheshwari

 CONTENT
 Basic properties of metal
 Mechanical properties of wire
What is the need for an orthodontist to
have knowledge of materials ??

 To assess the mechanotherapy for a particular case.

 And inturn to zero on to a wire.
 Ideal force = light and continuous
 The challenge is to use – An appliance which
produces forces that are neither too great nor variable.
 Therefore, different materials and type of wires have
been introduced to provide forces.
 BASIC PROPERTIES
OF MATERIALS
 The performance of all dental materials is based on their
atomic structures.
 The collective physical and chemical reactions of atoms
determine the properties of the material.
 To gain understanding of orthodontic wires – basic
knowledge of their atomic or molecular structure and their
behaviour during handling and use in the oral environment
is a must.
 What is a metal?

An opaque lustrous chemical substance that is a good

conductor of heat and electricity & when polished is a
good reflector of light.

 What is an alloy?

A crystalline substance with metallic properties that is

composed of two or more chemical elements, at least
one of which is a metal.
 What is an Element?

Substance that cannot be broken down by chemical reactions.

 What is a Compound?

Substance that can be broken into elements by chemical

reactions.

 What is a Molecule?

Smallest piece of a compound that keeps its chemical properties

(made of two or more atoms).
 Pure substances are rare- eg. Iron always contains
carbon, gold though occurs as a pure metal can be
used only as an alloy.
 An ore contains the compound of the metal and an
unwanted earthly material.
 What is an atom?

Smallest piece of an element that keeps its chemical

properties.

Electrons – orbit around nucleus.

Floating in shells of different energy levels.
Electrons form the basis of bonds.
 MODES OF INTERATOMIC BONDING
Cohesive forces - atoms held together.

Interatomic
bonding

Primary/ Secondary/
Chemical Physical

 The strength of these bonds and their ability to reform after

breakage determine the physical properties of a material.
Primary/
Secondary/
Chemical
Physical
bonds

Hydrogen
Ionic bonds
bonding

Van der
Covalent
Waals
bonds
forces
Metallic
bonds
 IONIC BONDS - transfer of valence electrons

 Strong electrostatic attraction between positive and negative ions -

NaCl, gypsum, phosphate based cements.

 COVALENT BONDS - valence electrons are shared by adjacent

atoms-.
 Lack the ability to undergo permanent deformation except at high

temperatures – SiO2, C-C bonding in polymers (dental resins),

 METALLIC BOND – valence electrons are loosely bound and
considered to form a gas.
 Increased spatial extension of valence electrons.
 The energy levels are very closely spaced and the electrons
tend to belong to the entire assembly rather than a single atom.
 Array of positive ions in a
“sea of electrons”
 CHARACTERISTIC
PROPERTIES OF METALS
 Hard
 Lustrous and Opaque (free e- absorb electromagnetic energy of
light)
 Dense (lattice structure)
 Good conductors of heat & electricity
 Ductile & Malleable
 Electrical and thermal conductivity - Electrons free to move.
 Ductility and malleability - Electrons adjust to deformation.

A. Outermost electrons wander freely through metal. Metal consists of cations held together by
negatively-charged electron "glue."
B. Free electrons can move rapidly in response to electric fields, hence metals are a good
conductor of electricity.
C. Free electrons can transmit kinetic energy rapidly, hence metals are good conductors of heat.
D. The layers of atoms in metal are hard to pull apart because of the electrons holding them
together, hence metals are tough. But individual atoms are not held to any other specific atoms,
hence atoms slip easily past one another. Thus metals are ductile.
 TRANSITION METALS
 Transition metals- outermost subshells are filled before the
interior subshells.
 Multiple valencies and are important for orthodontic and
restorative alloys.
 VAN DER WAALS FORCES - weak
dispersive forces arise from
fluctuations in the electronic charge
distribution
 Symmetric atoms - noble gases.
 HYDROGEN BONDING - permanent
dipole moments, strong electrostatic
forces exist between the positive and
negative centers of charge
 Asymmetric molecules - water
molecules, sorption of water by
synthetic dental resins.
INTERATOMIC BOND DISTANCE
AND
BONDING ENERGY
 ATOMIC ARRANGEMENTS FOR
DENTAL MATERIALS

Crystalline Non-crystalline
structure structure
• Three dimensional • Possess short range
periodic pattern of atomic order
atoms- long range • Isotropic-property of
periodicity material remains same
• Anisotropic –diff. in in all directions.
mechanical property • Eg. Dental porcelains –
due directional glass matrix, wax,
arrangement of atoms resins
 Why are metals ductile and ceramics brittle?

Metals: delocalized bonding allows dislocations to slip (or glide)

easily


s tres s
ap p lied
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
bonds
b en d + + + + + + + +


Ceramics: difficult for dislocations to move, due to ionic/covalent

bonding

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

- + - + - + - + - + - + - + -

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

Before dislocation After dislocation moves through crystal

moves Similar charges are adjacent 
unfavorable
 CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE

 1665 - Robert Hooke (1635-1703) simulated crystal

shapes – musket ball.
 250 years later - exact model of a crystal with each ball
= atom.
 Crystal

 Crystal - combination of unit cells, where a unit cell

is the smallest portion that can be repeated in
three dimensions to produce the crystal structure.
SPACE LATTICE (BRAVAIS LATTICES)
 Defined as - Any arrangement of atoms in space in
which every atom is situated similarly to every other
atom.
 May be the result of primary or secondary bonds.
 14 possible types or forms.
 Many of the metals used in dentistry belong to the
cubic system.
Simple cubic space lattice
 Single cells of cubic
space Iattices.
A, Simple cubic
B, Body-centered cubic.
C, Face-centered cubic.
BCC FCC
Other simple lattice types:
A. Rhombohedral
B. Orthorhombic
C. Monoclinic
D. Triclinic
E. Tetragonal
F. Simple hexagon
G. Close packed hexagonaI
H. Rhombic
Important pure metals found in orthodontic
alloys for archwires and brackets have the
following crystal structures:

Face-centered cubic: Body centered cubic: Hexagonal close

Fe above 910°C & Ni Fe-below packed: Co & Ti
910°C &above below 880°C
1400°C.
Cr &Ti above 880°C.
 POLYMORPHIC
OR
ALLOTROPIC FORMS

 The different crystal structures of a given metal or

other crystalline material are termed polymorphic
or allotropic forms
 Eg- iron, titanium, cobalt.
• Transition from one structure to the other with varying temp
• Reversible - Allotropy
• Eg – 1. Iron

At higher temperature, FCC structure (austenite)

Lower temperatures,  BCC structure (ferrite)

2. NiTi – transition from FCC to BCC takes place by

rearrangement of atoms in the lattice – BAIN DISTORTION
This occurs over a range of temperature - HYSTERESIS
 Perfect crystals are rare - atoms occupy well-defined positions.
 Cation-anion-cation-anion- interaction is present
 Distortion is strongly opposed as similarly charged atoms come
together.
 Single crystals are strong.
 Used as reinforcements – WHISKERS (single crystals - 10 times
longer, than wide).
 Also called ‘NANOPOWDERS’ these crystals hold the promise
of superstrong attachments when used as a dispersed phase in
polymeric composites, ceramics and even metals.
 The atoms, which are represented as points, are
not static.

 Instead, they oscillate about that point and are in

dynamic equilibrium.
 DEFECTS
AND
SLIP MECHANISMS
 LATTICE DEFECTS

 Usually crystals have imperfections - Lattice

defects.
 Point defects - Impurities and vacancies
 Line defects - Dislocations along a line.

Plastic deformations of metals occurs – motion of

dislocations.
 VACANCIES

Vacancy
distortion
of planes

 Vacancies – These are empty atom sites

 Referred to as equilibrium defects, because a crystal lattice that
is in equilibrium contains a certain number of these defects.
 Depends on temperature of lattice and increases with increasing
temperature
 Necessary for the diffusion process in solid metals
INTERSTITIAL ELEMENT –
• Smaller atoms that penetrate the lattice
• Eg – Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen.
• Often distort the metal structure

-"extra" atoms positioned between atomic sites.

SUBSTITUTIONAL ELEMENT –

• Another metal atom of approximately same size can

substitute.
• E.g. - Nickel or Chromium substituting iron in stainless steel.
 Substitutional alloy Interstitial alloy
(e.g., Cu in Ni) (e.g., C in Fe)

In stainless steel, carbon, which makes it a steel, is an

interstitial impurity in the iron lattice (and chromium, which
makes it stainless, is a substitutional impurity)
 IMPLICATIONS OF DEFECTS

 Each of these defects result in a change in energy in

the space lattice at its point of occurrence.
 Ultimate result is a weakening effect with regard to
cleavage strength.
 But a strengthening relative to further deformation
SOLIDIFICATION &
MICROSTRUCTURE
OF METALS
 Freezing point /
melting point

Supercooling
Stages in the
formation of metallic
grains during the
solidification of a
molten metal

Polycrystalline- each
crystal - grain
 GRAIN & GRAIN BOUNDARIES

Grains  microns to
centimeters
LINE DEFECTS: DISLOCATION MOVEMENT

Shear stress applied to the dislocation (a), displaces atoms

The dislocation moves (b), Continued movement of the
dislocation eventually creates a step at the surface (c).
 DISLOCATION

A dislocation can be described as a linear array of atoms each

of which has a coordination differing from the normal
coordination of those atoms in the structure.

Dislocations are of several types and are possible in metals

because the charge field around each atom is the same.
Dislocations make slip 1000 times easier, which is why
metals deform easily.

Slip of atom planes over each other due to deformation

occurs one atom row at a time, analogous to caterpillar
motion or moving a pile of bricks one at a time.
 SLIP
Slip: process by which dislocations move and cause the material to
deform
• Within a single crystal grain
• Or along grain boundaries

Slip plane:
• Should be orthogonal to the applied force
• When the grain is bonded ionically, it breaks first.

Slip system:
• Determines the degree of brittleness and ductility of a
material.
• Easy slip makes the material ductile and workable (may be
too soft).
• Difficult slip increases the strength, hardness, stiffness of
the material.
Shear stress  atoms of the crystal can glide.

More the slip planes  easier it is to deform.

Slip planes intercepted at grain boundaries.

shear
If the shearing force is….

 Small - atoms slip, and return back to their original position

(elastic deformation)

 Beyond the elastic limit - crystal suffers a slight deformation

permanent (plastic deformation)

 Greater stress - fracture

 ELASTIC DEFORMATION

1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial

F

Elastic means reversible

1. Initial 2. Large load 3. Unload
PLASTIC DEFORMATION
(METALS)

bonds
stretch planes
& planes still
shear sheared

plastic
elastic + plastic

Plastic means permanent

Dislocations help this process
 How does a dislocation help plastic deformation?

bonds
stretch planes
& planes stil
Force shear sheared


elastic + plastic plastic

• For plastic deformation without dislocations: several bonds have to be

broken simultaneously and remade after sliding

• Dislocations allow for a step by step (incremental) breaking and creation of

bonds: much less energetic cost!
 BOND BREAKING AND REMAKING
 Dislocation motion requires the successive bumping of a half plane of
atoms (from left to right here).
 Bonds across the slipping planes are broken and remade in
succession.
Atomic view of edge
dislocation motion from
left to right as a crystal
is sheared.

Slip plane
 TWINNING
•Alternate method of permanent
deformation to cold working

•Two symmetric halves - Fixed angle

• Seen in NiTi – multiple twinning

Subjected to a higher temperature,
de - twinning occurs (shape memory)
 E .G. BAIN TRANSFORMATION

• Transformations occur without chemical change or diffusion

• Result-specific crystallographic relation b/w parent and new
phase.
• Rearrangement of atoms in the unit cells occurs.
• In the bain transformation the diagonal plane in bcc unit
becomes face of new fcc unit.
- Impurities,
- Atoms of larger size, and
- Grain boundaries

• Act as obstructions and cause the dislocation movement, which

eventually distorts the grain and results in hardening of the
metal if the metal is further stressed.

• This process is called strain hardening or work hardening or

cold-working.
 Role of grains &
grain boundaries in work hardening
• Fine grained metals with large number of grains - stronger
• Grain boundaries hinder movement of dislocations which
further increases resistance to deformation
• Hardness & strength ductility

slip plane

gr ain A
• Grain boundaries are barriers to slip.
- dislocation has to change directions
- grain boundary region disordered, so discontinuity in slip planes
• Smaller grain size: more barriers to slip.

grain
boundaries
 Various methods of obtaining
smaller grain size

1. Enhancing crystal nucleation by adding fine particles with a

higher melting point, around which the atoms gather.
2. Preventing enlargement of existing grains Abrupt cooling
(quenching) of the metal.
3. Dissolving specific elements at elevated temperatures and
cooling the metal
4. Solute element precipitates barriers to the slip planes.
 ANNEALING

 To prevent breakage, a softening step (annealing) must be

added to render the distorted, cold worked material, strain
free.
 Heating below the melting point.
 More the cold work, more rapid the annealing
 Higher melting point – higher annealing temp.
 Recovery - A low-temperature annealing heat treatment designed to eliminate
residual stresses introduced during deformation without reducing the strength of
the cold-worked material.
 Recrystallization - A medium-temperature annealing heat treatment designed to
eliminate all of the effects of the strain hardening produced during cold working.
 Grain growth - Movement of grain boundaries by diffusion in order to reduce the
amount of grain boundary area
 STAGES - ANNEALING
RECOVERY – Relief of stresses
 Ortho appliances heat treated (recovery temperature) -
stabilizes the configuration of the appliance and
reduces fracture.
RECRYSTALLIZATION
 New grains from severely severely cold worked - after recovery-
radical change in microstructure
New stress free grains
cold worked areas - original Consume original cold worked
structure.
soft and ductile condition ductility , resiliency

0.6 mm 0.6 mm
FURTHER RECRYSTALLIZATION

All cold-worked crystals are consumed

0.6 mm 0.6 mm
 GRAIN GROWTH
 Large crystal “eat up” small ones
 Ultimate coarse grain structure is produced

0.6 mm 0.6 mm
 ©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

The effect of annealing temperature on the microstructure of cold-

worked metals.
(a) cold-worked,
(b) after recovery,
(c) after recrystallization, and
(d) after grain growth
To summarize..
 Modes of interatomic bonding

 Crystals & Space lattices

 Point defects

 Dislocations & Slips

 Twinning & Bain

transformation
 Solidification of metals

 Homogenisation heat
treatment
 Cold working
 ARCHWIRES
IN
ORTHODONTICS

Presented by : Dr. Divya Maheshwari

Basic Properties of Metals
 Modes of interatomic bonding
 Crystals & Space lattices
 Point defects
 Dislocations & Slips
 Twinning & Bain transformation
 Solidification of metals
 Homogenisation heat treatment
 Cold working
 Annealing
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

 Physical science that deals with energy and forces and

their effects on static bodies.

 Measures the resistance of a material to deformation

or fracture under an applied load.
Mechanical properties
 Stress & strain

 Elastic properties
Young’s modulus (modulus of elasticity)
Range
Springback
Formability Assessed by :
Resiliency - tensile,
- bending and
Flexibility
- torsional tests

 Strength properties
Proportional limit (elastic limit)
Yield strength
Plastic deformation
stiffness/load deflection rate
 THREE BASIC MODES OF FORCE OR
LOAD
 Force – a vector quantity with both magnitude and direction.

 Load – some magnitude without any direction being specified.

 a) TENSILE – stretch/pull.
 b) COMPRESSIVE – compress towards each other.
 c) SHEAR / BENDING – 2 non linear forces in
opposite direction which causes sliding of one part of
a body over another.
 STRESS

Stress- internal resisting force in a material due to

displacement of the atoms
σ = F/A (N/m2 / Pa)
 STRAIN

Strain - internal distortion produced by load

- deflection/unit length
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES BASED ON
ELASTIC DEFORMATION

 Elastic modulus / Young’s Modulus / Modulus of

Elasticity
 Flexibility
 Resilience
 Poisson’s Ratio
 MODULUS OF ELASTICITY /
YOUNG’S MODULUS
 Elastic modulus describes the relative stiffness or rigidity of a material, which
is measured by the slope of the elastic region of the stress-strain graph.

Stress-strain plot for a stainless steel orthodontic wire that has been subjected to tension.
F
o
r
c
e

Deflection
 Stiffness or load deflection rate
 This is the force magnitude delivered by an appliance and is
proportional to the modulus of elasticity (E).
 Low stiffness or load deflection rates provide:

1. the ability to apply lower forces,

2. a more constant force over time as the appliance
experiences deactivation, and
3. greater ease and accuracy in applying a given force.
Stiffness and springback
 Are proportional to ‘E’.
 Stiffness α E ie load / deflection
 Springiness α 1/ E

 stiffness = 1/ springiness

The more horizontal the slope the more

springier the wire.
F
The more vertical the slope the more stiffer o
the wire. r
c
e

Deflection
 HOOKE’S LAW

 Stress and strain (tensile or

compressive) are
proportional to each other.
 Represented by a straight
line designated as ‘E’.

 Spring stretch in proportion to applied force upto the proportional

limit.
 Modulus of elasticity – constant for a given material.
 FLEXIBILITY
 Large deformation (or large strain) with minimal
force, within its elastic limit.
 Maximal flexibility is the strain that occurs when a
wire is stressed to its elastic limit.
 Max. flexibility = Proportional limit / Modulus of
elasticity.
 RANGE & SPRINGBACK

Range - distance the wire will bend elastically before permanent deformation occurs.
Range = PL / E
Springback = YS / E
 Clinical implications
 The three major properties have an important relationship:

Strength = Stiffness x Range

E = Stress
Strain
 Clinically optimal springback occurs when the wire is bent

b/w its elastic limit and ultimate strength.

 The greater the springback, the more the wire can be

activated.
 Higher springback values provide the ability to apply
large activations with a resultant increase in working
time of the appliance.

 This, in turn, implies that fewer arch wire changes or

adjustments will be required.
 RESILIENCY
 When a wire is stretched, the space between the atoms
increases. Within the elastic limit, there is an attractive force
between the atoms.
 Energy stored within the wire.
 MODULUS OF RESILIENCE/
RESILIENCE

 Area under the stress strain

graph upto the proportional
limit.
 Represents the energy/volume required to load a specimen to
the end of elastic range
 Represents the work available to move teeth.
 Equivalent to biomechanical spring energy of the alloy
 POISSON’S RATIO
 When a material is elongated or
compressed along one axis, the
Poisson's ratio, ν, of a material is
the ratio of the Strain in the
directions perpendicular to the
axis, divided by the Strain along
that axis.
 Most dental materials have a
Poisson's ratio near 0.2 - 0.3.
 Disappears
Relatively Stress below Reversible completely
small load elastic limit elastic strain when
unloaded

Stress is
sufficiently
high
 STRENGTH PROPERTIES
 Proportional limit
 Elastic limit
 Yield strength / proof stress
 Ultimate tensile strength
Max load a wire can sustain
Occurs after some plastic
Point at which
deformationFailure point .1% deformation
is measured
Stress at the end of the linear regio
PERMANENT (PLASTIC) DEFORMATION
 If the material is deformed by a stress at a point above
the proportional limit before fracture, the removal of the
applied force will reduce the stress to zero, but the strain
does not decrease to zero because plastic deformation
has occurred.
 Thus, the object does not return to its original dimension
when the force is removed. It remains bent, stretched,
compressed, or otherwise plastically deformed.
 bonds
stretch planes
& planes still
shear sheared

elastic + plastic plastic

F
 OTHER MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES

 Range & Springback

 Toughness
 Fracture Toughness
 Brittleness
 Ductility, Malleability & Formability
 Hardness
 TOUGHNESS

 Defined as the amount of elastic

and plastic deformation energy
required to fracture a material.
 Total area under the stress –
strain graph.
 The greater the strength and the
higher the ductility (total plastic
strain), the greater the toughness.
 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
 Fracture toughness, or the critical
stress intensity, is a mechanical
property that describes the
resistance of brittle materials to
the catastrophic propagation of
flaws under an applied stress.

 Fracture toughness is given in units of stress times the

square root of crack length, that is, M/Pa.m1/2.
 BRITTLENESS
 Opposite of toughness.
 A brittle material, is elastic, but
cannot undergo plastic
deformation. E.g. – Glass
 However, a brittle material is not
necessarily weak. Tensile
strength of a glass-infiltrated
alumina core ceramic is
moderately high (450 MPa), but
it has 0% elongation.
 DUCTILITY

 Ductility represents the ability

of a material to sustain a large
permanent deformation under
a tensile load before it
fractures.
 For example, a metal that can
be drawn readily into a long,
thin wire is considered to be
ductile.
 MALLEABILITY
 The ability of a material to sustain considerable
permanent deformation without rupture under
compression, as in hammering or rolling into a sheet, is
termed malleability.
 Gold is the most ductile and malleable pure metal, and
silver is second of the metals of interest to the dentist,
platinum ranks third in ductility, and copper ranks third
in malleability.
 MEASUREMENT OF DUCTILITY

1. The percent elongation after fracture – most

commonly used (percent elongation),
2. The reduction in area of tensile test specimens
(reduction in area); and
3. The maximum number of bends performed in a cold
bend test
a) Original and final shape of a standard tensile-test specimen.
b) Outline of a tensile-test sequence showing stages in the elongation of the
specimen.
FORMABILITY
 High formability provides the ability to bend a wire into
desired configurations such as loops, coils, and stops
without fracturing the wire.
 Formability
 Amount of permanent deformation that the wire can withstand
without breaking
 Indication of the ability of the wire to take the shape
 Also an indication of the amount of cold work that they can
withstand
 It is represented by the area under the stress strain graph b/w
the yield strength and fracture point.
 HARDNESS
 In mineralogy - the relative hardness of a substance is
based on its ability to resist scratching.
 In metallurgy, and in most other disciplines, the
concept of hardness that is most generally accepted is
the "resistance to indentation”.
 Barcol, Brinell, Rockwell, Shore, Vickers, and Knoop.
 HARDNESS MEASUREMENTS

 Knoop and Vickers indentation techniques – microhardness tests

 Diamond indenter to apply a known load to the surface of a metallurgically
polished specimen.
MECHANICAL TESTING METHODS
 Mechanical testing machines
 Tensile tests
 Bending tests
 Torsion tests
 Mechanical Testing Machines
 Two types : screw driven and servohydraulic
 Screw driven machine – Instron Corporation
 Servohydraulic machine – MTS system corporation
 Universal testing machines – employed for tension,
compression, bending or torsion tests.
 Grip

Extensometer Specimen

Grip
 TENSION TEST

(a) Original and final shape of a standard tensile-test specimen. (b) Outline
of a tensile-test sequence showing stages in the elongation of the specimen.
 BENDING TESTS
3 types :

1) A cantilever bending test - Oslen stiffness

tester (ADA-32)

2) 3 point

3) 4 point
• The modulus of elasticity
calculated from the force -
deflection plot, using
equations from solid
mechanics.

• Cantilever bending test -

incompatible with flexible 2 3
wires.
F
• 4 point – uniform bending
moment-specimen fails at the
weakest point.
L
Cantilever
bending 1
• Nikolai et al proposed a 5 point bending test:
Requirements of an ideal archwire
 BIOCOMPATIBILITY &
ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY
 Biocompatibility includes resistance to corrosion and tissue
tolerance to elements in the wire.
 Environmental stability ensures the maintenance of
desirable properties of the wire for extended periods of time
after manufacture.
 This, in turn, ensures a predictable behaviour of the wire
when in use.
 JOINABILITY

 The ability to attach auxiliaries to orthodontic wires

by welding or soldering provides an additional
advantage when incorporating modifications to the
appliance.
 FRICTION
 Space closure and canine retraction in continuous arch wire
techniques involve a relative motion of bracket over wire.
 Excessive amounts of bracket/wire friction may result in loss
of anchorage or binding accompanied by little or no tooth
movement.
 The preferred wire material for moving a tooth relative to the
wire would be one that produces the least amount of friction
at the bracket/wire interface.
 In contemporary practice, no one arch wire
material meets all these requirements, and the
best results are obtained by using specific arch
wire materials for specific purposes.
 In the United States, orthodontic appliance dimensions,
including wire sizes, are specified in thousandths of an inch.
 For simplicity, they are given in mils (i.e., .016 inch = l6mils).

 In Europe and many other areas of the world, appliance

dimensions are specified in millimeters.
 For the range of orthodontic sizes a close approximation of sizes
in millimeters can be obtained by dividing the dimensions in mils
by 4 and placing a decimal point in front (i.e., 16 mils = 0.4mm).
 ARCHWIRE MATERIALS

 Gold and gold alloys

 Stainless steel
 Cobalt-chromium,
 Nickel-titanium,
 Beta titanium,
 Multistranded stainless steel wires.
 EVOLUTION
I. Material scarcity, Abundance of ideas (1750 – 1930)

II. Abundance of materials, Refinement of Procedures

(1930 – 1975)

III. The beginning of Selectivity (1975 to the present)

Material Scarcity, Abundance of Ideas
(1750-1930)
 Before Angle gave his list of materials.
 Noble metals and their alloys were used.
 Gold (at least 75%), platinum, iridium and silver alloys

 Good corrosion resistance.

 Acceptable esthetics.
 Lacked flexibility and tensile strength
 Inappropriate for complex machining and joining.
 Angle listed few materials appropriate for work:

 Strips of wire of precious metals.

 Wood
 Rubber
 Vulcanite
 Piano wire
 Silk thread
 GERMAN SILVER
 Angle (1887)  gave German silver (a type of brass)

“according to the use for which it was intended”- varying the

proportion of Cu, Ni & Zn and various degrees of cold work.
 Neusilber brass (Cu 65%, Ni 14%, Zn 21%)
 jack screws (rigid)
 expansion arches (elastic)
 Bands (malleable)

 Opposition was raised by Farrar – discoloration.

GOLD ALLOYS
 Abundance of materials,
Refinement of Procedures (1930 – 1975)

 Stainless steel
 Cobalt chromium alloys
 Nickel titanium alloys
 STAINLESS STEEL

 Stainless steel (entered dentistry -1919).

 Discovered by chance before World War I.
 1919 – Dr. R. Hauptmeyer used stainless steel to make a
prosthesis and called the alloy – Wipla (wie platin).
 Angle used steel as ligature wire (1930).
 COBALT CHROME ALLOYS
 Cobalt chrome (1950s)-Elgin watch company developed a complex
alloy-Cobalt(40%),Chromium(20%),iron(16%) & nickel(15%).
 Rocky Mountain Orthodontics- ElgiloyTM

 Stellite alloys – Deloro Stellite Company - cutlery

 1958-1961

Various Tempers
Blue – soft & formable

Yellow – slightly less formable but ductile

Green – semi-resilient

Red – hard & resilient

 NICKEL TITANIUM ALLOYS

 1962 - Buehler discovered nickel-titanium dubbed NITINOL

(Nickel Titanium Naval Ordnance Laboratory)

 1970s -Dr.George Andreason (Unitek) introduced NiTi to

orthodontics
 50:50 composition – excellent springback, no superelasticity

or shape memory (M-NiTi).

 Late 1980s –NiTi with active austenitic grain structure.
 Exhibited Superelasticity.
 New NiTi by Dr. Tien Hua Cheng and associates at the General
Research Institute for non Ferrous Metals, in Beijing, China.
 Burstone et al–Chinese NiTi (1985).

 In 1978 Furukawa electric co. ltd. of Japan produced a new type of

alloy
1. High spring back.
2. Shape memory.
3. Super elasticity.
Miura et al – Japanese NiTi (1986)
Classification of Nickel titanium alloys
CONVENTIONAL KUSY At oral TTR
temperature

Non super elastic Martensite M predominant +

stabilised A +R

Super elastic Austenite A predominant +R Higher Pseudoelastic

active

Shape memory Martensite A phase similar thermoelastic

active
 β TITANIUM
Burstone and Goldberg-1980
 β phase –stabilized at room temperature.
 Early 1980s
 Composition
 Ti – 80%
 Molybdenum – 11.5%

 Zirconium – 6%

 Tin – 4.5%

 Burstone’s objective  deactivation characteristics 1/3rd of SS or twice of

conventional NiTi
 TMA – Titanium Molybdenum alloy - ORMCO
NOMOGRAMS
 BURSTONE
 Until the recent introduction of new types of orthodontic
alloys, increments in wire stiffness during treatment were
instituted by progressively increasing the cross-section of
stainless steel wires - “variable cross-section
orthodontics.”
 Advances in orthodontic wire alloys have made it possible
to control wire stiffness by varying material properties -
namely, the modulus of elasticity - “variable modulus
orthodontics.”
 Several advantages of
“variable modulus orthodontics”

1. Amount of play between bracket and wire is not dictated by

the desired wire stiffness, but is under full control of the
clinician.
2. Use of light, rectangular wires even during the early stages of
treatment.
3. Substantial advantages with a 0.022-inch bracket slot.
4. Reduce the number of arch wires needed.
 Optimal use of these orthodontic wires can be
made by carefully selecting the appropriate wire
type and size to meet the demands of a
particular clinical situation.
Thank you!
Lets Revise…
 Mechanical properties
 Stress & strain
 Elastic & plastic properties
 Mechanical testing machine
 Mechanical tests – tension,
bending & torsion
 Archwire materials – Gold
alloys, SS, CoCr, NiTi & B-Ti
 Variable cross section and
modulus orthodontics
Thank You!
–
 Fatigue – Repeated cyclic stress of a magnitude below the
fracture point of a wire can result in fracture. This is called
fatigue.
 Yield strength
Stress

Proportional limit

Resilience Strain
 Mechanical properties of these wires are generally assessed
by tensile, bending, and torsional tests.
 tests do not necessarily reflect the behaviour of the wires
under clinical conditions, they provide a basis for comparison
of these wires. Tests
 bending - first- and second-order bends.
 torsional tests - third-order
Esthetic
 Desirable.
 No compromise on mechanical properties.
 White coloured wires discolour.
 Destroyed by oral enzymes.
 Deformed by masticatory loads.
Stiffness / Load deflection Rate

 Thurow - force:distance ratio, measure of resistance to

deformation.
 Burstone – Stiffness is related to – wire property & appliance
design
 Wire property is related to – Material & cross section.
 Wilcock – Stiffness α Load/
Deflection
 Magnitude of the force delivered by the appliance for a
particular amount of deflection.
 Low stiffness or load deflection rate implies that:-
 1) Low forces will be applied
 2) The force will be more constant as the appliance
deactivates
 3) Greater ease and accuracy in applying a given force.
Strength
 Yield strength, proportional limit and ultimate
tensile/compressive strength
 Kusy - force required to activate an archwire to a specific
distance.
 Proffit - Strength = stiffness x range.
 Range limits the amount the wire can be bent, Stiffness is the
indication of the force required to reach that limit.
 The shape and cross section of a wire have an effect on the
strength of the wire.
 Strength and stiffness are directly proportional to width in
rectangular wire
 Stiffness is proportional to third power (cube) of thickness.
 Strength is proportional to square of thickness.
4. Range

 Distance that the wire bends elastically, before permanent

deformation occurs (Proffit).
 Kusy – Distance to which an archwire can be activated
 Thurow – A linear measure of how far a wire or material can
be deformed without exceeding the limits of the material.
 In round wires – Width and thickness are always same –
called diameter. Width and thickness can vary independently
of one another in rectangular wires.
 Width has no effect on range.
 Range is inversely related to thickness.
5. Springback
 Large springback

 Activated to a large extent.

 Hence it will mean fewer archwire changes.

 Ratio – yield strength

 Modulus of elasticity
 Kusy ­- The extent to which a wire recovers its shape after
deactivation.

 Ingram et al – a measure of how far a wire can be deflected

without causing permanent deformation. (Contrast to Proffit).
6. Formability

 Kusy – the ease in which a material may be permanently

deformed.
 Proffit : amount of permanent deformation a wire can
withstand without breaking
7. Resiliency

 Amount of energy stored in a body.

 Store/absorb more strain energy /unit volume before they get
permanently deformed

 Greater resistance to permanent deformation

 Release of greater amount of energy on deactivation

8. Coefficient of friction

 Brackets (and teeth) must be able to slide along the wire

 High amounts of friction  anchor loss.
 9. Biohostability :- site for accumulation of bacteria,
spores or viruses. An ideal archwire must have poor
biohostability.

 10. Biocompatibility :- Resistance of corrosion, and

tissue tolerance to the wire.

 11. Weldability :- the ease by which the wire can be joined to

other metals, by actually melting the 2 metals in the area of
the bond. (A filler metal may or may not be used.)
 12. high stored energy,
 Stainless steel wires have remained popular since their
introduction to orthodontics because of their formability,
biocompatibility and environmental stability, stiffness,
resilience, and low cost.
 Gobaltchromium
 (Co-Cr) wires can be manipulated in a softened state and
then subjected to heat
 treatment. Heat treatment of Co-Cr wires results in a wire
with properties similar to those of stainless
 steel.
 How wires are manufactured
 Most wires are materially metallic alloys. Wire manufacturing
basically, initially, requires cross sectional reduction and
accompanying lengthening of an ingot of the alloy through
drawing, rolling, and other forming processes.
 Such procedures produce strain hardening and potential
embrittlement of the material; therefore, heat treatments are
included in the fabrication processes to release residual stresses
and accumulated strain energy and to restore ductility and
toughness.
 In the production of multistrand wire, operations follow fabrication of
individual strands to twist or braid the strands to prepare the composite,
multistrand format and, perhaps, additional processes thereafter to modify
the initial (overall) cross-sectional shape.

 Manufacturing processes may include segmentation and theplacement of

form globally into the wire segment. Practitioners may purchase orthodontic
wire in straight "sticks" of various lengths, on spools, and in arch blanks
having one of several variations in overall shape as viewed from an occlusal
perspective.
 The choices of materials, sizes, geometric designs, and
formability vary with the malocclusionand the pre-
engagement processes anticipated, and whether the
component is to function in an active or stabilizing mode (or
both concurrently). Wires in many shapes, sizes, and
materials (metallic alloys) are typically part of the
orthodontist's inventory,
 ARCH WIRES:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
ARCH BOW-
 precursor of the orthodontic wire - late 1800s,
 drawn in a nickel-silver or platinum-gold alloy, diameter - 0.032
to 0.036 inches.
 threaded at its ends, passed through tubes joined to the bands
encircling the terminal molars, with nuts placed either mesial or
distal to the tubes,
 activated anteroposteriorly by tightening the aforementioned
nuts or mediolaterally to expand or reduce transverse dental-
arch dimensions.
 localized auxiliaries were launched from the arch bow, but,
because of characteristic stiffnesses associated with its cross-
sectional size, the arch bow could not perform individual tooth
movements or levelling processes.
 Transition from the arch bow
to the arch wire
 Edgewise appliance - Dr Edward Angle (1920s).
 Prototype narrow bracket with wings and an 0.022- by 0.028-
inch slot -potential to control the displacement of an individual
tooth in all three planes of space
 Precious-metal alloys, more flexible than the arch bow because
of their smaller sizes, and of rectangular as well as round cross-
sections
 Levelling procedure and phase of active treatment was born.
 Unfortunately, the smaller (in cross-section) silver- and gold-
alloy wires were too flexible to enable effective performance of
some stabilizing procedures desired during active orthodontic
therapy.
 late 1920s-hard-drawn, austenitic, stainless steel wire brought to the
specialty.
 This wire alloy, with chromium aud nickel in its metallurgy, was touted as
superior to its precious-metal predecessors because of its higher strengths,
greater elastic modulus, ductility, and its corrosion resistance in the oral
environment.
 early 1930s annealed stainless steel strips were produced, and fluoride
fluxes were introduced, enabling successful soldering, and the gold, silver,
and platinum alloys began to disappear as appliance materials.
 mid-1930s - twin wire technique began a lengthy evaluation by the specialty
of multistrand wires.
 The orthodontic practitioners were initially skeptical; the small diameters of
the individual strands compromised ductility, making the controlled placement
of permanent bends difficult.
 Single-strand, stainless steel arch wires became and remained the standard
of the profession through the middle half of this century.
 A shortcoming of orthodontic stainless steel wire is its inability to be hardened
by heat treatment.
 middle 1950s, Elgiloy wire was introduced to the orthodontic community
 cobalt-chromium alloy - initially developed for torsional, main springs by the
Elgin Watch Company (Elgin, IL), and it exhibits material stiffnesses similar to
those of chromium-nickel steel.
 manufactured in four resiliences, providing the practitioner with the potential
to maximize elastic range with reference to the amounts of pre-engagement
bend and twist placements required.
 Orthodontic practice in the United States was highly influenced by Dr Charles
Tweed and his disciples through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s; their intraoral
mechanics were relatively heavy, largely intermittent, and relied on ductile
wires prepared with numerous localized bends.
 mid-1950s, ER. Begg introduced his light-force technique and began a
revolution within the specialty.
 new mechanics catalyzed a search for wires materially less stiff and more
resilient than conventional orthodontic stainless steel.
 Initially, portions of the specialty converted to smaller and more resilient steel
wires, smaller slot sizes, and reconsidered multistrand wires.
 early 1960s, a nickel titanium alloy was developed by the U.S.
Navy, and subsequently the material was drawn into orthodontic
wire.
 Undergo change in its stress-strain pattern and exhibit a "shape
memory" at elevated temperatures.
 an elastic modulus (stiffness per unit volume) in tension a fraction
of that of stainless steel.
 Nitinol was the first of several titanium alloys to invade orthodontic
practice.
 mid-1970s, an orthodontic wire in an alloy with primary
constituents titanium and molybdenum was introduced to the
specialty.
 This titanium alloy displayed elastic range, ductility, and
joining characteristics comparable to those of orthodontic
stainless steel while exhibiting approximately 40% of the
steel's material stiffness.
 metallurgic research on nickel-titanium alloys was continuing, and
in the mid-1980s two new Ni-Ti-alloy wires were introduced from
overseas.
 These wires were termed "superelastic,“ in part because elastic-
limit strains of these alloys in tension at oral temperature were four
to five times that of orthodontic stainless steel, but also because of
the "plateau" (nearly-constant-strain) segments within the
deactivation portions of their elastic stress-strain cycles.
STAINLESS STEEL
ARCHWIRES
Introduction
 Recent advances in orthodontics have resulted in a varied
array of wires that exhibit a wide spectrum of properties.
 Up until the 1930's the only orthodontics wires available were
made of gold
 Austenitic stainless steel was introduced as an orthodontic
wire In 1929
 it is used widely in the industrial field, and as it is based on a
standard of 18 per cent chromium 8 per cent nickel
 it is known as an austenitic alloy and recognized by the term
18-8. stainless steel has now become an integral part of
orthodontic profession today.
History
 Before Angle began his search for new materials orthodontists made use of
noble metals and their alloys like Gold, Platinum, Iridium and silver alloys.
Stainless steel was developed by Harry Brearly (1912) of Sheffield ,
F.MBecket of US, and Benno Strauss & Edward Maurer of Germany.
 This steel was reported in the journal Stahl und Eisen in 1914 by Benno
Strauss and Eduard Maurer

 first shown as a commercial product at the Malmö Exhibition in April of that

year
 It entered Dentistry in 1919 being introduced at Krupp's Dental Polyclinic in
Germany by the company's Dentist F. Hauptmeyer, where he used it to
make prosthesis and called wipla ("Wie platin" in German means "like
platinum").
 Angle used it in his last year 1930 as ligature wire.
 By 1937 through the research work of P. Simon, R. Schwarz,
G. Korkhaus, S. Friel, De Coster, A. Brusse, and J. Wunderly,
the value of stainless steel as an orthodontic material had
been confirmed.

 Steel is manufactured by

Bessemer Process
Open hearth process
Duplex process
Heroult electric arc furnace
Linz Donauwits process
 Carbon steel-
is not an orthodontic alloy because of its corrosion
problems. Carbon steel is mainly iron, but small amt of
carbon is added to the alloy.

These steels are actually a mixture of pure iron, called

ferrite, and iron carbide called cementite. Ferrite the pure
iron is a soft and ductile material without much structural
strength..
Cementite-
 is hard enough to scratch glass
comparably brittle; therefore used by
itself; it would also be a poor structural
material.

 Steel is a mixture in which these two

mediocre materials support and
reinforce one another, much like glass
fibers and plastic.
The physical properties of steel
depend almost entirely on the
proportions of ferrite and cementite
and on the way in which they are
intermixed with one another
The different classes of steels are based
on three possible lattice arrangements of
iron.
Pure iron at room temperature has a body
centered cubic structure and is referred to
as ferrite.
austenitc steel
At the high end of temperature scale
[1400-1500°F or 750-800°C],

 steel is a homogenous material with all

of the carbon in solid solution in iron. The
iron carbide [cementite] is completely
decomposed at this temperature.
 Steel in this form of iron is face centered
cubic structure [FCC] called, named after
the British metallurgist – Robert Austen.
 Mixture of
Slow cooling ferrite (BCC) +
cementite
Autenite (FCC)
Martensite
Rapid cooling (distorted
lattice – BCT)
Martensite.steel
If the austenite is cooled rapidly, by
quenching, it will undergo a spontaneous
diffusion less transformation to a body
centered tetragonal [BCT] structure
called Martensite.
The lattice is highly distorted and
strained resulting in an extremely hard,
strong and brittle alloy named after the
German metallurgist Adolf Marten.

This is almost pure cementite the

hardest and the most brittle form of the
iron –carbon combination.
Picture from GRABER AND VANASDALLE
Between these high and low extremes of
temperature, many intermediate phases
are formed.

When steel is quenched in water

the resulting martensite is so brittle that
the steel is not suitable for most
mechanical applications.
This is remedied by
reheating to intermediate
temperature ranges under
carefully controlled
conditions to permit a
partial transformation in to
softer forms. This
reheating is called
tempering.
 However, a report several decades ago showed that a
17-7 precipitation hardened stainless steel alloy had
greater yield strength and resilience in bending than
commonly used stainless steel wire.
 Steel - alloy of iron and carbon

 Iron – 2 forms-

FCC-above 910°C
BCC-below 910°C - Carbon practically insoluble(0.02%)

 Iron - FCC form (austenite)

-Lattice spaces greater

-Carbon atom can easily be incorporated into the unit
 On Cooling  Rapidly cooled (quenched)

FCC BCC  Carbon cannot escape

 Carbon diffuses out  Distorted body centered

as Fe3C (Cementite) tetragonal lattice called

& adds strength to martensite

ferrite and austenite  Too brittle-tempered-heat b/w

200-450°C –held at a given
temp for known length of time-
cooled rapidly.
 A variety of stainless steel is available by varying
the degree of cold work and annealing during
manufacture.
 Fully annealed stainless steel - extremely soft,
and highly formable
 Ligature wire - “Dead soft”
 Stainless steel arch wires are cold worked to varying
extents - yield strength increases, at the cost of their
formability.

 The steel with the highest yield strength, the Supreme

grade steels, are also very brittle, and break easily
when bent sharply.
 Structure and composition
Element Percentage Role
Iron
Chromium 11 - 26% corrosion resistance by
formation of surface oxide

Nickel 0 – 22% improve strength by

increasing face centered
cubic phase (austenite)

Carbon 0.08 – 1.2% provides strength

Reduces the corrosion
resistance

Copper, manganese,
nitrogen
EFFECT OF ALLOY CONSTITUENT
CHROMIUM:
The corrosion resistance of stainless
steel is largely due to the passivating effect
of chromium.
About 11% of chromium is needed to
produce corrosion resistance in pure iron.
Chromium resists corrosion well because
of the formation of a strongly adherent
coating of Cr2O3 on the surface. Cr favours
the stability of the [BCC] unit cells.
 NICKEL:
•Nickel stabilizes a corrosion
resistant austenitic phase at low
temperature.

•Alloying with nickel improves the

corrosion resistance to oxidizing
acids. Ni. Cu, Mn and N favour the
FCC structure.
The alloys resistance to pitting
corrosion is based on the content
of chromium, Mo, and Ni. The
higher the PRE value the more
resistant the alloy to pitting
corrosion.

CARBON:
Provides strength and hardness and it
increases corrosion
SILICON: Improves resistance to
oxidation and carburization at
higher temperature and to
corrosion.

SULFUR: Allows easy machining of

the alloy parts.

PHOSPHOROUS: Allows for a

lower temperature for Sintering, a
process in powder metallurgy in
which the
.
particles are heated to coalesce just
under their melting point

MANGANESE: Stabilizes the

austenitic phase, but it decreases the
corrosion resistance.

MOLYBDENUM: improve the

corrosion resistance to non oxidizing
acid and salts.
MAKING ORTHODONTIC WIRE

Melting
The physical properties of metals are
influenced at every step in production beginning with
the selection and melting of the alloying metals. This
composition which fixes the general properties of the
metal is more variable than might be expected.
The ingot
One of the critical operations
in wire making is pouring the
molten alloy into a mold to
produce an ingot. This ingot will
be having varying degrees of
porosity and inclusions of slag in
different parts
Rolling
The first
mechanical step is
rolling the ingot into a
long bar. This is done
by a series of rollers
that gradually reduce
the ingot to a
relatively small
diameter. The
different parts of the
original ingot never
The individual grains of the ingot
also keep their identity through the
rolling process.

•Each grain is elongated in the

same proportion as the ingot. The
squeezing massaging action of
rolling the ingot has a very
important effect on the grain
structure actually increasing the
strength of the metal.
•Rolling causes increase in the
hardness or brittleness of the
metal as the grains are forced to
interlock even more tightly with
one another in a form of work
hardening.
Each pass through the rollers
increase the work hardening until finally
the structure becomes so "locked up"
that it can no longer adjust enough to
adapt to the squeezing of the rollers.
 DRAWING
The wire is
reduced to its
final size by
drawing. This is
a more precise
process in which
the wire is pulled
through a small
hole in a die
. One hole is slightly smaller than
the starting diameter of the wire,
so that the walls of the die squeeze
it uniformly from all sides as it
passes through reducing the wire
to the diameter of the die
Picture Graber Vanarsdall
RECTANGULAR WIRES
Rectangular wires can be made
by drawing the material through a
rectangular die or by rolling round
wires to a rectangular shape using
Turk’s head, which contains pairs of
rolls. There appears to be very little
significant difference in the wires
formed by the two processes.
During drawing
sharp corners are produced on
rectangular wire and the
engagement of these edges on a
rectangular slot can be an
advantage in the application of
torque. But the rolled rectangular
wires will have some degree of
rounding at the corners.
WIRE WITH SHARP ANGLES

WIRE WITH ROUND ANGLES

WORK HARDNING OR COLD
WORKING

is the result of forced interlocking of

grains and atoms of the metal.
Many of these grains are locked in
situations in which the material is
under stress. These microscopic
regions are under pressure or
tension.
When a wire with such internal
stress is bent to store energy for
an orthodontic application the
previously stressed area cannot do
their full share.

Force applied to these stressed

regions will bring them to their
load limit. The wire is weakened
by the internal stress.
Drawing of stainless
steel

Plastic deformation Stress relief anneal

Locked-in, non
uniform microstrain – Hampers the
Residual stresses mechanical
+solid state phase properties
transformation
Stress relief
eliminates such prestressed area
puts it into condition to work
more effectively.
As internal stresses are relieved
there may also be some change in
the wire. A wire that is bent to form
an arch is full of residual stresses
that tend to slowly return it
towards its original form. This goes
on gradually at ordinary temp.
 ANNEALING
The effects associated with cold
working such as strain hardening,
low ductility and distorted grains
can be reversed by simply heating
the metal.

This process is called annealing.

The more severe the cold working
the more rapidly the effects can be
Stress relieving effects depend on-
 time
temperature

. In general low temp treatment over

a long period of time is most
desirable.

This stress relieving treatment enhances

the elastic properties of the wire.
 The recommended temp time
schedule for stress relieving stainless
steel is 750oF (399oc) for 11 minutes.
‘Funk’ recommends the use of a colour
index to determine when adequate heat
treatment is achieved. He suggested
that a straw coloured wire indicates that
optimum heat treatment has been
attained.( FUNK july 1951 AO)
The stress relief treatment
 increases the modulus of elasticity
yield strength
 increase in the modulus of
resilience.
 reduces failure caused by
corrosion .

 If the wire is bent into tight loops

of 180 degree or a spiral of small
radius the measured increase in
elastic strength may be as great as
50%.
The austenitic stainless steels are
nonmagnetic but may develop
ferromagnetic qualities as a result of
cold-working during fabrication which
forms some ferrite or martensite, both
of which are strongly magnetic.
This magnetism can be eliminated by a
full anneal to restore the metal to its full
austenitic form. The temperature of this
transformation is termed the Curie
temperature, which is around 700° C.
 Heat treatment

Appreciable increase in elastic strength has resulted from the

heat treatment.
 Khier,Brantly,Fournelle(AJO-1998)

X-ray diffraction-not always single phase-Bcc martensitic phase present

Austenitic structure-metastable
Decomposes to martensite-cold work & heat treatment
 Huppert Mighty Midget burn out oven – orthodontists office
 Room temperature to 1400 F
 Effect of heat treatment
 Elimination of so-called residual stresses.
 These are stresses which remain “locked-up” within a metal even after
the forces needed to produce cold-working are removed.
 A stress-relief anneal is the common name for the heat treatment
intended to do away with residual stresses.
 The increased elastic strength is the most significant effect of heat
treatment.
 An elastically stronger working appliance is more likely to return to its
original shape, not suffer any permanent deflection, and all the while it
is deformed apply the largest possible force.
 25 – 40% partial stress relief occurs at conventional heat
treatment 700-900ºF for 5-15 mins.
 Complete stress relief – not clinically desirable
 Sensitization
 Improper cooling after heat treatment
 During soldering or welding
 400-900oc
 Chromium diffuses towards the carbon rich areas
(usually the grain boundaries)
 Amount of chromium decreases
 Chromium carbide is soluble - intergranular corrosion.
 Stabilization

 Element which precipitates carbide more easily than

Chromium.
 Usually Titanium or columbium.
 No sensitization during soldering.
 Most steels used in orthodontics are not stabilized.
 Silicon – improves the resistance to oxidation and
carburization at high temperatures.

 Sulfur (0.015%) - increases ease of machining

 Phosphorous – allows sintering at lower

temperatures.
 Substitutional alloy Interstitial alloy
(e.g., Cu in Fe) (e.g., C in Fe)

 In stainless steel, carbon, which makes it a steel, is an

interstitial impurity in the iron lattice (and chromium,
which makes it stainless, is a substitutional impurity)
 Classification
 American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
 Unified Number System (UNS)
 German Standards (DIN).
 The AISI numbers used for stainless steel range from
300 to 502

Higher the number :

 More the iron content.
 More expensive the alloy.
 Numbers having a letter L signify a low carbon content.
 Austenitic steels (the 300 series)

 Homogenous solid solution having better corrosion

resistance.
 FCC structure - non ferromagnetic
 Not stable at room temperature.
 Austenite stabilizers - Ni, Mn and N.
 Known as the 18-8 stainless steels.
 302, 304 and 316 ( 2% more nickel and 2% molybdenum –
increased corrosion resistance)
 Martensitic steel

 FCC BCC.
 BCC structure is highly stressed.
 More grain boundaries,
 Stronger
 Less corrosion resistant
 Making instrument edges which need to be sharp
and wear resistant.
 Ferritic steels
 Derives its name from the fact that they have the
microstructure same as that of iron at room
temperature (BCC).
 Chromium is substituted for some of the iron atoms in
unit cell….as high as 30%.
 The 400 series
 Good corrosion resistance ; resistant to chlorides.
 Low strength.
 Not hardenable by heat treatment.
 Not readily cold worked.
 Austenitic steels more preferable :-

 Greater ductility and ability to undergo more cold work

without breaking.
 Substantial strengthening during cold work.

(Cannot be strengthened by heat treatment).

 Easy to weld
 Easily overcome sensitization
 Ease in forming.
 Duplex steels
 Both austenite and ferrite grains.
 Besides iron contains molybdenum and chromium.
 Increased toughness and ductility than Ferritic steels.
 Twice the yield strength of austenitic steels.
 Lower nickel content.
 When improperly heat treated , form a brittle phase sigma that
diminishes their corrosion resistance.
 Manufacturing low nickel attachments (one piece bracket –
BIOLINE)
 Precipitation hardened steels

 Certain elements added to them  precipitate and

increase the hardness on heat treatment.
 The strength is very high
 Resistance to corrosion is low.
 Used to make mini-brackets.
 Manganese Containing Steel
 Known as an austenizing element it is used as a
replacement to nickel.
 Mn acts by interstitially dissolving the really
austenizing element nitrogen .
 Added as high as 18%, it decreases the corrosion
resistance.
Cobalt and “no nickel containing “alloy
 Nickel free alloy have been developed to replace their
allergenic counterpart.
 Cr – 15 -18%
 Mo- 3-4%
 Mn – 0-14%
 N -0.9%
 Available as MENZAMIUM or NONINIUM
General properties of steel
 Yield strength and stiffness can be varied

-Altering the carbon content and

-Cold working and
-Annealing

 High forces - dissipate over a very short amount of

deactivation (high load deflection rate).
 Impact of Cold Work
 Yield strength increases.
 Tensile strength (TS) increases.
 Ductility decreases (dramatically).

Stress
 Clinically:-

1. Resilience of stainless steel arch wire is substantially less

than that of beta titanium and nitinol wire. So,

 Loop - activated to a very small extent so as to achieve

optimal force
 Deactivated by only a small amount (0.1 mm)
 Force level will drop tremendously
 More frequent activations.
2. High stiffness high modulus of elasticity.
 Maintain the positions of teeth
 Hold the corrections achieved
 In Begg treatment, stiff archwire, to dissipate the
adverse effects of third stage auxiliaries.
Since,
 Force is required to engage a steel wire into a
severely mal-aligned tooth.
 Overcome by using thinner wires, which have a lower
stiffness.
3. Lowest frictional resistance
 Ideal choice of wire during space closure with sliding
mechanics.
 Teeth be held in their corrected relation.
 Minimum resistance to sliding
 GARNER et al 1986, stated larger forces are required during
canine retraction using beta titanium and nitinol wires.
 SS surface is the smoothest followed by co-cr, beta titanium,
ni-ti wires (KUSY et al)
4. Biocompatibility
 Ni is used as an austenite stabilizer.
 Not strongly bonded to produce a chemical
compound.
 likelihood of slow release of Ni.
 Can cause Ni hypersensitivity.
Stress relieving heat treatment
 Only heat treatment after bending the wire into arch, loop
or coils.
 Purpose – significant reduction in residual stress.

slight increase in resilience.

 Recommended temperature is 399 ˚c ( 750 ˚F) for 11
min.
 FUNK (1951) suggested that a straw coloured wire
indicates that optimal heat treatment has been achieved.
The following properties-
 Greater ductility and malleability
 More cold work-strengthened
 Ease –welding
 Dec. sensitization
 Less critical grain growth
 Ease in forming
 High Tensile Australian Wires

 Wilcock archwires have been the mainstay of Begg

technique. In early 1940s Dr. Begg met Mr. Arthur J.
Wilcock Sr. of Whittlesea, Victoria who was directing
metallurgical research projects at University of Melbourne.
 After many years of research and development in
producing high tensile wires, Mr. Wilcock finally produced a
Cold drawn heat treated wire that combined the balance
between hardness and resiliency with unique property of
Zero stress relaxation .
 Light, flexible, stainless steel wire with high resiliency
and toughness to be used in Begg technique.
 Australian wire is available in sizes ranging from:
0.012” to 0.024” round wire and as regular, regular+,
special, special+, premium, premium+, and supreme
grades.
 The wires are graded according to their resiliency, with
resiliency increasing from regular to supreme.
 Beginners found it difficult to use the highest tensile wires

 Late 1950s, the grades available were –

 Regular
 Regular plus
 Special
 Special plus
 Extra special plus
 Regular and regular+ Australian wire - significant bending
or loop forming of the arch wire.
 Special and special+ wires - stronger and are not suitable
for bending; used in the treatment of deep bites because of
their increased resistance to permanent deformation.
 The remaining grades are very resilient but are not
appropriate for situations that require that sharps bends be
placed in the archwire, because of their brittle nature.
These high resiliency grades are often used as auxiliaries.
 0.016 regular, 0.018 regular, and 0.018
special - Morphology, Structure, and Composition

 SEM - The topography of the wires showed rough surfaces with

characteristic striations derived from the drawing process, along with
excessive porosity and irregularities - increased carbon content.
 elemental composition of the wire

 Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) - higher carbon content for all wire
specimens, whereas different tempers did not show variation in the
composition of alloys.
Vickers hardness number

 No difference was found with respect to hardness,

which ranged in the order of 660 HV500 for all wire
types.
Modulus of Elasticity & Ultimate Tensile
Strength of the Australian Wires

 No effect of wire size or temper on the modulus of wire was

observed, whereas this variable was found to range around
170 GPa for all three wire types.
 A statistically significant reduction is indicated for the 0.018
special wire, and the other groups showed values on the order
of 2100 MPa.
 Tempering of high carbon alloys is associated with increasing
hardness caused by clustering of carbon atoms and
precipitation of carbides.
 Thus, higher hardness values could be attributed to
increased carbon content in the Australian wire, along with
the manufacturing process.
 In addition, this increased hardness may cause Australian
wire to be more brittle than traditional stainless steel wire and
consequently may adversely affect the ability of the wire to
withstand bending.
 The large difference in hardness between Australian wire
and titanium brackets may cause the wire to bind and not
slide as well through the bracket slot as stainless steel wire,
which has VHN numbers that are more comparable with
bracket VHN numbers. The Vickers hardness value (VHN)
for commonly used titanium brackets ranged from 165 in the
base to 372 in the tie wings
Evaluate and compare the following physical properties of high
tensile A. J. Wilcock (Australian) wires with the newly introduced
high tensile wires and critically assess their claim for superiority.
 In general, the A.J.
 Wilcock wires showed a rougher surface
 topography than the wires from the other two
 groups, which showed a much smoother
 surface.
 Wires from all the three groups belonged to
 the 18-8 stainless steel. The significant
 increase in the percentage of chromium
 content in the wires from Ortho Organizers
 could be the cause for the extra shine of these
 wires.
 A.J. Wilcock wires are
 superior to Ortho Organizers and slightly
 superior to the T.P. wires (except in 0.018" as
 mentioned above) so far as yield strength and
 ultimate tensile strength are concerned.
 the Wilcock wires seem to have
 greater working range, which matches the
 inference drawn from the discussion of yield
 strength
 the wires from Ortho
 Organizers and T.P. Orthodontics had a much
 smoother surface than those of A.J. Wilcock
 Australian wires but their frictional resistance
 values in most instances were high. Proffit has
 made a similar observation based on a study
 reported by Kusy and Whitley “There is little
 or no co-relation for orthodontic wires between
 the coefficient of friction and surface
 roughness”. The explanation that he gave is
 “Friction is independent of the apparent area
 of contact. This is because all surfaces no
 matter how smooth, have irregularities that are
 large on a molecular scale, and real contact
 occurs only at a limited number of small spots
 at the peaks of the surface irregularities. These
 spots, called “Asperities”, carry the entire load
 between the two surfaces. Even under light
 loads, local pressure at the asperities may
 cause appreciable plastic deformation of those
 small areas. Because of this, the true contact
 area is to a considerable extent determined by
 the applied load and is directly proportional
 the wires from
 A.J. Wilcock and T.P. Orthodontics had similar
 hardness values and a higher hardness value
 than the wires from Ortho Organizers.
 Highly brittle, and broke easily
 Straightening the wire - softening
and loss of high tensile properties.
 Bauschinger effect

 Described by Dr. Bauschinger in 1886.

 Material strained beyond its yield point

in one direction, then strained in the
reverse direction,
 its yield strength in the reverse
direction is reduced.
 Plastic prestrain increases the elastic limit of deformation in
the same direction as the prestrain.
 Plastic prestrain decreases the elastic limit of deformation in
the direction opposite to the prestrain.
 If the magnitude of the prestrain is increased, the elastic limit
in the reverse direction can reduce to zero.
Spinner straightening
 Bronze rollers are used.
 Resultant deformation
 Decrease in yield strength in tension and compression as
compared to that of “ as drawn “ material.
Special pulsing process

 This method :

 Permits the straightening of high tensile wires

 Does not reduce the yield strength of the wire

 Results in a smoother wire, hence less wire – bracket

friction.
 Newer grades of wilcock wire have been introduced
 premium
 premium plus
 supreme
 Higher yield strength  more flexible.

 Supreme grade flexibility = β-titanium.

 Higher resiliency  nearly three times.

 NiTi  higher flexibility but it lacks formability

Methods of increasing yield strength of Australian
wires.

1. Work hardening
2. Dislocation locking
3. Solid solution strengthening
4. Grain refinement and orientation
 Solid Solution Strengthening
 Impurity atoms distort the lattice & generate stress.
 Stress can produce a barrier to dislocation motion.
• Smaller substitutional impurity • Larger substitutional impurity

A C

B D

Impurity generates local shear at Impurity generates local shear at

A and B that opposes dislocation C and D that opposes dislocation
motion to the right. motion to the right.
 Clinical significance of high yield strength.
 Flexibility – Yield strength/ Elastic Modulus

 Resilience - (Yield strength)2/ Elastic Modulus

 Plastic portion of the stress-strain graph is smaller  wires

are more brittle.
Zero Stress Relaxation

 If a wire is deformed and held in a fixed position, the stress in

the wire may diminish with time, but the strain remains
constant.
 Property of a wire to give constant light force, when
subjected to external forces (like occlusal forces).
 Hazel, Rohan & West (1984)
Stress relaxation of Special plus wires after 28 days was less
than Dentaurum SS and Elgiloy wires.
Australian wire properties

 Highest yield strength and ultimate tensile strength as

compared to the corresponding wires.
 Higher range.
 Lesser coefficient of friction
 Surface area seems to be rougher than that of the other
manufacturers’ wires.
 Lowest stress relaxation.
 Small stress applied
with the plier beaks

Fracture of wires and crack propagation
Crack propagation

Elastic energy is released

Propagation accelerates to the
nearest grain boundary

High tensile
wires have
Pile up, and
Dislocation high density of Stress
form a minute
locking dislocations concentration
crack
and crystal
defects
 REFERENCES
 Nikolai RJ. Orthodontic wire: a continuing evolution. Semin Orthod. 1997
Sep;3(3):157-65.
 Philips RW. Skinner’s Science of Dental Materials, Ed.9, W.B. Saunders
Company 1992.
 Kapila S, Sachdeva R. Mechanical properties and clinical applications of
orthodontic wires. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 1989 Aug;96(2):100-9.

 Backofen WA, Gales GF. Heat treating stainless steel for orthodontics. Am J
Orthod 1952;38:755-65.

 Funk AC. The heat treatment of stainless steel. Angle Orthod 1951;21:129-
38.

 Howe GL, Greener EH, Crimmins DS. Mechanical properties and stress relief
of stainless steel orthodontic wires. Angle Orthod 1968;38:244-9.
 Khier SE, Brantley WA, Fourneile RA. Structure and mechanical properties of
as-received and heat-treated stainless steel orthodontic wires. Am J Orthod
Dentofacial Orthop. 1988;93:206-12.

 Pelsue BM, Zinelis S, Bradley TG, Berzins DW, Eliades T, Eliades G.

Structure, Composition, and Mechanical Properties of Australian Orthodontic
Wires. Angle Orthod. 2009;79:97–101.

 Acharya KA, Jayade VP. Metallurgical Properties of Stainless Steel

Orthodontic Archwires: A Comparative Study. Trends Biomater. Artif. Organs
2005 Jan;18(2):125-36.

 Sankar SG, Shetty SV, Diwakar Karanth HS. A Comparative Study of

Physical and Mechanical Properties of the Different Grades of Australian
Stainless Steel WiresTrends Biomater. Artif. Organs 2011;25(2):67-74.