Orthodontic Wires: Wrought

Metals

A.Selva Arockiam
1st year PG
Department of orthodontics
10/18/2018 1
Contents
 Introduction
 Evolution of arch wires
 Properties
 Ideal Requirements
 Stainless Steel
 Classification
 Composition
 Properties
 Soldering and welding
 Australian arch wire
 Articles
 References

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Introduction

 An orthodontist is as good as the archwire he uses.

 Arch wires are the most important active elements.

 It refers to wire secured to two or more teeth through

fixed attachments to cause, guide or control
orthodontic tooth movement.

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 They are available in various cross sections:

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 Wires may be

Single Stranded

Twisted
Multi Stranded

Braided

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 According to International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO)
 Round wires- 0.012, 0.014, 0.016, 0.018, 0.020, 0.022
inch.

 Square wires-0.016 X 0.016 inch.

 Rectangularwires- 0.016X0.022, 0.017X0.025,

0.018X0.025, 0.019X0.025, 0.0215X0.0275 inch.

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 Manufacturing of orthodontic wires:

 Round wire- by drawing cast alloy through a series of

dies, with intermediate heat treatment.
 Rectangular or square- by rolling round wires using
Turk’s head apparatus.

 Whenever a casting is permanently deformed in any

manner, it is considered a wrought metal.

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Evolution of Arch Wires
 In early days, noble metals like gold, platinum, and
silver were used.
They are biologically safe and inert in oral
environment.

1887- Angle introduced ‘Neusilver’ or German Silver in

US.
Obtained favourable clinical properties by cold
working.

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 1929- Stainless Steel wires replaced noble metals.
Have favourable properties like corrosion resistance,
good strength and low cost.

 1940s-Begg with Wilcock made resilient orthodontic

wires –Australian stainless steel.

 1950s- Elgiloy was developed by Elgin Watch

Company of USA.
They are corrosion resistant and inexpensive.

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 1962- Beuhler discovered Nitinol at Naval Ordinance
lab.

 1970- Nickel-Titanium alloy (NiTi) by Andreasen and

William F Buehler.
Has shape memory.

 1977- TMA or Beta Titanium wire was introduced by

Burstone and Goldberg.

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 1988 A.J Wilcock – much harder alpha titanium
archwires

 1992 – Optiflex – M.F.Talass

 1994 – Copper Niti – Dr .Rohit Sachdeva

 2000- Titanium Niobium – Dalstra et al

 Optiflex and Teflon coated tooth coloured wires for

improving aesthetics.
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General Properties
 Stress
Force per unit area within a structure subjected to an
external force or pressure.

Units: psi or MPa

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 Strain
It is the relative deformation of an object
subjected to stress.
It has no units of measurement.
It can be Elastic or Plastic.

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Different types of Stress are:

 Tensile stress

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 Compressive stress

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 Shear stress

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Stress strain relations

Proportional Limit

Yield strength

Elastic Limit

Ultimate tensile strength

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Proportional limit
It may be defined as the greatest stress which
may be produced in a material such that stress is
directly propotional to strain.

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Yield strength
It is the stress at which a material exhibits a specified
limiting deviation from proportionality of stress to strain.

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Elastic limit
It is the maximum stress the material can
withstand before permanent deformation.

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Ultimate tensile strength
It is the maximum load wire can sustain.
It is greater than yield strength.

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Elastic properties
 Young’s modulus :
If any stress equal to or less than proportional limit is
divided by its corresponding strain value , a constant
proportionality will result called as Young’s modulus.

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 Flexibility
It is defined as the strain which occurs when a
material is stressed to its proportional limit.

 Toughness
It is defined as the energy required to fracture a
material.

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Fractures may be of two types

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 Resiliance
Defined as the amount of energy
absorbed within a unit volume of
a structure when it is stressed to its
Proportional limit.

 Formability
Amount of permanent
deformation that the wire can
withstand before breaking.

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 Strength :
Measure of maximum possible load.
The greatest force wire can withstand without
sustaining a specific amount of plastic strain.

 Stiffness :
It is a force/distance ratio i.e, measure of resistance to
deformation.

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 Range
Distance wire will bend
elastically before
permanent deformation.

 Spring back
Extent to which wire
recovers its shape after
deactivation
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 Load deflection rate:
• For a given load the
 deflection observed
 within the elastic limit
 is called load deflection
 rate

 Desirable for two reasons:

• Maintains most desirable stress levels
• Greater accuracy in control over force

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 Bauschinger effect :
• It explains the influence of load direction on elastic
properties.
• If the wires are straightened by process of reverse straining ,
the yield point of wire reduces
• Flexing in the direction opposite to that of original bend

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 Cold working :

• The process of plastically deforming a metal at a

temperature below at which it recrystallises new grains

• It is usually one third to one half times its absolute

melting point

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 Strain hardening or work hardening

• Hardening of a metal by cold working is called strain

hardening or work hardening

• During deformation – atomic bonds within the crystal

gets stressed

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 Consequences:

• Increased surface hardness

• Greater yield strength and ultimate tensile strength

• Less ductility

• Proportional limit is increased

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 Heat treatment

 It is the process of subjecting a metal to given

controlled heat followed by sudden or gradual cooling to
develop desired qualities in metal

• Softening heat treatment

• Hardening heat treatment

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  Annealing :
 The effect associated with cold working can be reversed
by simply heating the metal to an appropriate elevated
temperature without melting it.

 Stages :
• Recovery
• Recrystallisation
• Grain growth

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  Recovery :

 The effects of cold working begin
disappear.

 Orthodontic appliances fabricated

by bending wires are often
subjected to stress relief anneal
prior to their placement


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 Recrystallisation :
• Radical change in the microstructure

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 Grain growth :
• It is a process by which the grain boundary area is minimised ,
large grains grow at expense of smaller grains

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Stainless Steel
Introduction

• Stainless steel entered dentistry in 1919.

• First developed by Harry Brearley in England.

• Stainless steel wires began to replace gold wires in

1930s.

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  Angle- ligature wires(1930)

 1937- value of SS wire as an orthodontic wire was

confirmed.

 It is today used to make

• Arch wires
• Band material
• Brackets
• For maintaining archform and bite opening procedures

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Composition of Stainless Steel

Carbon Steel + 12-13% Chromium  Stainless Steel

Carbon content less than 0.20%

18% Cr, 8% Ni 18-8 stainless steel

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  Classification

• They are classified according to American Iron and Steel

Institute System (AISI)

• Numbers range from 300-500

• L- low carbon content

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Lattice arrangement of iron exist in three form :

Ferritic Austenite

Martensitic

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 Ferritic stainless steel:
 Pure iron at room temperature is body centered cubic, this is
referred as ferrite , stable upto 912oC

 AISI 400 series

 Good corrosion resistance

 Low cost

 Low strength

 Not readily work hardenable.

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 Austenitic stainless steel :
 AISI 300 series

 Most commonly used for orthodontic materials.

 Most corrosion resistant of the

stainless steels.

 Formed between 912-1394oC

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 Martensitic Stainless steels
 High strength, hardness and brittleness.
 Less corrosion resistant.
 Less ductile.
 Used for surgical and cutting instruments.

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Composition of three types of Stainless Steel

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Functions of each composition
• Increases tarnish and corrosion
Chromium resistance
• Increases hardness, tensile
strength, proportional limit

• Increases strength
Nickel • Also tarnish and corrosion
resistance

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 Cobalt • Decreases hardness

• Increases hardness
Manganese during quenching

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 • Deoxidiser and
Silicon scavanger

• Inhibits precipitation of
Titanium chromium carbide

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 Properties and their Clinical Implications
 Stiffness :-
 High stiffness demonstrated by large values of Modulus
of Elasticity.

 160-180 Gpa

 Necessitateuse of smaller wires for alignment of

moderately or severely displaced teeth

 Advantageous in resisting deformation

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 Spring Back
 SS has lower spring back than those of newer titanium
based alloys: 0.0060-0.0094
 Can’t be deflected to a greater extent

 Resilience :
 Represents work available to move teeth
 Substantially less than that of beta titanium and nitinol
wires

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 Formability :-
Excellent formability.
Yield strength: 1100-1500MPa.

 Joinability :-
 SS wires can be soldered and welded.

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 Soldering :
It is a process of joining two metals by the use of intermediate
alloy which has a lower melting point.

Components :
 Parent metal
 Fluxes and antifluxes
 Solder

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Flux:
Composition :
 Borax glass -55%
 Boric acid – 35%
 Silica – 10%
 KF and boric acid should be 1:1 concentration

Anti flux:
 Materials used to restrict flow of solders are known as anti
flux
 e.g- graphite in the form of lead pencil

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 Most common heat source – propane gas

 Flame – reducing zone

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  Techniques of soldering :
 Investment soldering Free hand soldering

 Application :
• Tube soldered to bridge of Adams clasp
• Attachment of springs to arch wire
• Soldering lingual arch or palatal arch
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  Important considerations in soldering SS

• SS wire should not be heated to too high temperature

• Use of low fusing silver solders

• Flouride containing fluxes should be used

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  Welding :
• Joining of two or more metals pieces directly under
pressure without introduction of an intermediary material

• Spot welding is used to join various components in

orthodontics

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 Sensitisation of 18-8 SS
18-8 SS may loose its resistance to corrosion if it is heated
between 400o-900o C.

Alloy becomes susceptible to Intergranular Corrosion.

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  Methods to minimise :
• Controlling the carbon content.
• Controlling temp to prevent intergranular corrosion.
 e.g. Quenching immediately after soldering.

 Stabilization:
• Introduction of one or two elements that form carbide
precipitates in preference to chromium.
 e.g. Niobium, Titanium+Tantalum.

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  Friction :

 Low levels of bracket / wire friction have been reported

with experiments using stainless steel wires

 Studies were done by Kusy et al (1988)

 ROBERT R KUSY - Angle Orthod 1997;67(3):197-208

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  Corrosion of stainless steel :
• Defined as destruction or deterioration of material by
chemical or electrochemical reaction

 Causes :
• Surface inhomogenity
• If bits of carbon steel is incorporated on metal surface

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 Types of corrosion

 Pitting corrosion Crevice corrosion

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Stress corossion

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Properties in summary
 High strength
 High Stiffness
 Low resilience
 Low Spring back
 Low springiness
 Moderate range
 Good formability and joinability
 Modulus of elasticity-179GPa
 Yield strength- 1.6GPa
 Ultimate tensile strength-2.1GPa
 No. of cold bends without fracture-5 68
 Australian Orthodontic Archwire :
• Arthur J Wilcock of Victoria , Australia produced
orthodontic archwire
• It had certain unique characteristics different from usual
stainless steel wires

 Outstanding feature :
• Resiliency
• Spring back after being deflected

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  Various grades
 Regular grade
• Lowest grade and easiest to bend

 Regular plus :
• More resilient than regular grade
• Available in 0.014, 0.016, 0.018, 0.020inch.

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 Special grade
• Highly resilient and available in same sizes

 Special plus grade :

• Available in 0.014 , 0.016, 0.018, 0.020, 0.022
• Used by experienced operators

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 Newer grades of Australian wires

 During last two decades , three more grades have

been introduced

• Premium-P
• Premium plus –P+
• Supreme-S

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 Higher yield strength of newer grade of wires
influences following properties:

1. Springback - (YS/E) :
 Can be deflected more without deformation.

2. Resiliency – (YS2/2E) :
 Higher yield strength results in greater resiliency.

3. Formability
 These wires are more brittle than lower grade wires
and need to be bent in specific way.
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 Protocols for bending high tensile wires :
• Warm the wire by pulling through the fingers before
bending
• When sharp bends are required , bend the wire around
the square beak of the pliers

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 Zero stress relaxation :
• Stress relaxation :
• If a wire is deformed and held in a fixed position , the
stress in the wire may diminish with time , but strain
remains constant.

• Ability of wire to deliver a constant force over

long periods when subjected to an external load
is called Zero Stress Relaxation.

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 Heat treatment :
 The low and medium grade wires exhibit better
formability as they are subjected to less work
hardening

 The wires were straightened by

• Spinner Straightening
• Pulse Straightening

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 Spinner Straightening :
• It is mechanical process of straightening resistant
materials in the cold drawn condition

 Disadvantages :
• Decreases yield strength
• Creates rougher surface

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 Pulse Straightening :

• Special method

• Placed in special machines that permits high tensile

wires to be straightened

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 Clinical usage of new grades of
Australian wires
• When relatively high load deflection rate is required:

 For generating relatively larger forces in stage 1

0.016 or 0.018 P+ or P

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 When relatively large resistance to deformation
is required


 0.018 P or P+ or 0.020 P

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 When low load deflection is required
:
• For generating smaller forces

 0.014 P or P+

• For combination of high spring back and

resiliency

 0.012 P+

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 Factors in selection of wires for
making archwires :

• Depending on load deflection rate , wire size is

selected

• If chances of fracture of archwire is more ,

slightly lower grade is preferred

• Cost

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 Conclusion :

• Highest yield strength and ultimate tensile

strength as compared to corresponding wires
• Higher range
• Lesser co efficient of friction
• Lowest stress relaxation

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Supreme grades
0.010 Supreme :-
Used to form Reciprocal torquing auxiliaries.

0.011 Supreme :
Used for aligning second molars towards
end of stage III.

0.012 Supreme:
Torquing Auxiliary in Stage III

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NICKEL HYPERSENSITIVITY :-
 Reviewed in literature for past 10 years.

 Widespread Erythema and

swelling of Oral tissues developing
1-2 days after treatment is started.

 Use of Ni – free alloy substitutes or Ni alternatives are

recommended.
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Recent Advances in Stainless Steel Metallurgy

1. Nickel Free Stainless Steel :-

Composition :-
15 – 18% Chromium.
3 – 4% Molybdenum
10 - 14% Manganese.
0.9 % Nitrogen – To compensate for Ni.

Orthodontic wires
 Menzanium (Scheu Dental)
 Nobinium (Dentaurum)
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Menzanium Wire
 SS is fabricated in a high pressure melting process
where Manganese and Nitrogen replace allergic
components of Ni.

 Ideal for Ni sensitive patient.

 Corrosion resistant and durable.

Availability :-
Supplied by Great Lakes Orthodontics.
Grade :- Hard and spring Hard.
Sizes :- 0.028, 0.032, 0.036.

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Duplex steels
 Duplex steels consist of an assembly of both austenite
and ferrite grains. Besides iron these steels contain
molybdenum and chromium and they have lower nickel
content.

 Improved toughness and ductility compared to ferritic

steels.
 Yield strength is twice that of Austenitic stainless
steels.
 Highly corrosion resistant.

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Antiadherent and antibacterial properties of stainless steel and NiTi orthodontic
wires coated with silver against Lactobacillus acidophilus—an in vitro study
Mhaske et al. Progress in Orthodontics (2015) 16:40

89
Synergistic effect of wire bending and salivary pH on surface properties
and mechanical properties of orthodontic stainless steel arch wires
Hobbelink et al. Progress in Orthodontics (2015) 16:37

90
Effects of nanostructured, diamondlike, carbon coating and nitrocarburizing on the
frictional properties and biocompatibility of orthodontic stainless steel wires
Angle Orthodontist, Vol 86, No 5, 2016

91
Investigation into the effects of stainless steel ligature ties on the mechanical
characteristics of conventional and self-ligated brackets subjected to torque
Hussam Al Fakir, Jason P. Carey, Garrett W. Melenka, David S. Nobes, Giseon Heo & Paul W. Major
Journal of Orthodontics, Vol. 41, 2014, 188–200

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Torque resistance of different stainless steel wires commonly used for fixed
retainers in orthodontics.
Dario T. Arnolda , Michel Dalstraa, and Carlalberta Verna
Journal of Orthodontics, 2016, 1–9

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 References
 William A Brantley, Theodore Eliades –
Orthodontic Materials
 Anusavice -Philips Science of Dental Materials
 Profitt WR, Contemporary Orthodontics 5th
edition
 Graber Vanarsdall –Current Principles and
Technique
 A review of contemporary archwires: their
properties and characteristics; Robert P Kusy,
Angle Orthod 1997;67(3):197-208
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THANK YOU

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