Caracterização mecânica, termodinâmica e química dos fios CuNiTi comerciais

Abstract

Introduction: Copper Ni-Ti (CuNiTi) wires have indications of specific clinical use and should therefore express the mechanical and thermodynamic characteristics reported by manufacturers. With the fall of the production patent, several companies began to manufacture these wires with great variation of price, process of manufacture and possibly of quality. Objectives: In order to verify the properties of these wires, this work aims to characterize mechanically, thermodynamically and chemically CuNiTi commercial wires. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 40 precontoured, thermodynamic arches with addition of copper, dimensions of 0.017 "x 0.025" with Af temperature of 35°C, from 5 manufacturers, American Orthodontics® (G1), Eurodonto® (G2), Morelli® (G3), Ormco® (G4) e Orthometric® (G5), 8 wires of each one. The wires underwent a standardization test of their dimensions, tensile tests, MEV-EDS and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test. Due to the small variability inherent of the mechanical tests in wires, parametric tests (ANOVA OneWay and Tukey post test) were used, considering a significance level of 5%. Results: All wires presented standardized dimensions of 0.017 "x0.025". In the tensile test, all presented superelastic behavior with SE rate higher than 8 and the following means of force plateau - G1 36,49N; G2 27,34N; G3 19,24N; G4 37,54N; e G5 17,87N. In the DSC assay, the means of Af for G1 (29.40°C), G2 (29.13°C) and G3 (31.43°C), had p>0.05 relative to each other. G4 (32.77°C) and G5 (35.17°C) presented statistically significant differences between themselves and among the other groups, with p <0.05. MEV-EDS assay for all samples presented Ni, Ti, Cu and Al in different concentrations. Conclusion: All wires have superelastic behavior. G5 wires were the only ones having an Af temperature similar to that indicated by the manufacturer. G5 and G3 showed the lowest plateau means during deactivation. Cu is fundamental to stabilize the TTRs, however in non-equiatomic alloys a higher concentration of Al seems to be fundamental to raise the transition temperature.