ORTHODONTIC

WIRE MATERIALS
INTRODUCTION
• Orthodontic wires – generate biomechanical forces – communicated
through brackets – tooth movement.

• Currently, 4 major alloy types are for orthodontic wires.

• They are :-
▫ Stainless steel
▫ Cobalt chromium nickel alloy
▫ Nickel titanium
▫ β titanium
 COBALT –
CHROMIUM –
NICKEL ALLOY
(ELGILOY)
INTRODUCTION
• Developed during 1950s by Elgiloy corporation, USA, for use as watch
springs.
• First marketed as wires for use in orthodontics during 1960s.
• Composition
COBALT 40%
CHROMIUM 20%
NICKEL 15%
IRON 15.8%
MOLYBDENU 7%
M
MANGANESE 2%
CARBON 0.16%
BERYLLIUM 0.04%
 GENERAL
PROPERTIES
• CORROSION RESISTANCE
▫ Excellent resistance to tarnish and corrosion in oral environment.
▫ Due to a thin passivating layer of chromium oxide on the wire surface.

• SOLDERING AND WELDING

▫ Can be subjected to the same soldering and welding procedures used for
stainless steel wires.
 TYPES OF ELGILOY
WIRES

• Available in 4 different tempers – color coded

 Soft (blue)
 Ductile (yellow)
 Semi resilient (green)
 Resilient (red)
• As we go down…increased resilience.
• All 4 tempers – same composition.
• Difference in mechanical properties – variations in wire processing.
 TYPES OF ELGILOY
• Elgiloy Blue
WIRES
▫ Most widely used.
▫ Softest of the 4 wire tempers.
▫ Can be bent easily with fingers/ pliers.
▫ Recommended for use when considerable bending or soldering/ welding
required.
▫ Used in fabrication of fixed lingual quad helix appliance, which produces
slow maxillary expansion for treatment of maxillary constriction/ crossbite
in primary and mixed dentition.

• Elgiloy Yellow
▫ Relatively ductile and resilient than blue.
▫ Can also be bent with relative ease.
 TYPES OF ELGILOY
WIRES
• Elgiloy Green
▫ More resilient than yellow.
▫ Can be shaped with pliers before heat treatment.

• Elgiloy Red
▫ Provides high spring qualities.
▫ Careful manipulation with pliers is recommended – withstands only
minimal working.
▫ After heat treatment – extremely resistant – fractures easily – do all
adjustments before.
 HEAT TREATMENT OF
ELGILOY WIRES
• To increase resilience.
• All 4 tempers – respond to heat treatment.
• Elgiloy blue – easily manipulated and then heat treated.

• Done using
▫ Electrical resistance welding apparatus and a special
paste to indicate optimum time and temperature.
▫ Or in a furnace at 480oC for 7-12 minutes.

• Resulting changes in mechanical properties – complex

precipitation reactions.
 HEAT TREATMENT OF
ELGILOY WIRES
• Heat treatment…
▫ Substantially increases yield strength (about 20-30%)
▫ Increases resilience
▫ Increases elastic modulus (about 10%)
▫ Increases springback
▫ Decreases formability

• Careful about the temperature during heat treatment.

• High temperatures – annealing – resultant loss in yield strength and tensile
strength.
• Optimum temperature indicators – special paste, dark straw color of wire.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
OF ELGILOY BLUE
Modulus of Elasticity 160-190 GPa
Yield Strength 830-1000 MPa
Springback 0.0045-0.0065 (AR)
0.0054-0.0074 (HT)
Ultimate Tensile Strength 1.7 GPa

• Y.S of Elgiloy blue is less when compared to SS (1100-1500 GPa) – soft

feel.
• Can be mistaken that they have lower force delivery than SS.
• Elastic modulus – nearly identical to SS (160-180 GPa) – force delivery is
essentially same.
• Force delivery varied only with diameter of wire.
 ADVANTAGES
• Increased resistance to fatigue and distortion
• Good formability before heat treatment and better springback
properties after heat treatment.
• Corrosion resistance
• High Elastic Modulus – delivers twice the force of β – titanium and 4
times force of nitinol.
 DISADVANTAGES

• Tendency to harden at the point of welding/ soldering

• High temperatures – dec. Y.S and T.S – to overcome – low fusing
solder.
• Greater degree of work hardening when compared to SS.
• Requirement of extra setup for heat treatment to obtain optimal
properties.
• Contains nickel – biocompatibility consideration.
β – TITANIUM
(TMA)
INTRODUCTION
• Marketed by Ormco corporation, USA.
• Commercial name:- TMA – Titanium Molybdenum Alloy.
• Burstone and Goldberg recognized its use for orthodontic purpose.

• Composition
TITANIUM 77.8%
MOLYBDENU 11.3%
M
ZIRCONIUM 6.6%
TIN 4.3%
ZINC In traces
 FORMS OF B-TITANIUM
• Pure titanium is Polymorphic or Allotropic – different crystal structure at high
and low temperatures.
• Above 885oC – bcc structure (Body Centered Cubic) – Beta Titanium

• Below 885oC – hcp structure (Hexagonal Close Packed) – Alpha Titanium

 FORMS OF B-TITANIUM
• α-titanium – stabilized by Al, C, O2, N2.
• β- titanium – stabilized by V, Mo, Tantalum – decrease the temperature for
transformation into α-titanium.

• Another form exists – duplex microstructure – both α and β forms – seen

when composition is 90% Ti, 6% Al, 4%V
• Not used for orthodontic wire (lower formability)
• Used for implants
 FUNCTIONS OF EACH
COMPONENT
• Composition

• Molybdenum – stabilizes bcc beta titanium structure to room temperature.

• Zirconium and zinc – increase strength and hardness.

Their presence avoids formation of embrittling omega phase during wire
processing at elevated temperatures.
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Modulus of Elasticity 62-69 GPa
Yield Strength 690-970 MPa
Springback 0.0094-0.011
Ultimate Tensile Strength 1.3 GPa

• Elastic modulus is approximately 40% that of SS and Elgiloy – delivers lower

biomechanical forces.
• Despite lower Y.S, due to lower E – good springback (YS/E) – Increased
working range for tooth movement.
• Excellent formability – bcc structure.
• High ductility – many slip systems available for dislocation movement in bcc
crystal structure.
 CORROSION RESISTANCE
• Attributable to the presence of thin adherent passivating surface layer of
titanium oxide analogous to chromium oxide film on SS and Elgiloy.
• This layer also provides environmental stability.
 TRUE WELDABILITY
• Only orthodontic wire possessing true weldability.
• The joints need not be reinforced with solder as in SS and Elgiloy.
• Done using
• Capacitance (single pulse) welding apparatus.
• Transformer (multiple pulse) welding apparatus.
• Low heat during welding – failure at interface between wires
• Overheating – failure adjacent to the joint.
 HEAT TREATMENT OF B-
TITANIUM
• Orthodontist – not recommended
• Manufacturer does it.
Heated to 700oC to 730oC

Followed by water quenching

Yields all beta microstructure

Subsequent aging at 480oC

Precipitation of alpha phase

Maximum value of springback

 ADVANTAGES
• Delivers lower biomechanical forces compared to SS and Elgiloy.
• Excellent formability
• It is the only orthodontic wire alloy possessing TRUE WELDABILITY.
• Absence of nickel – greater biocompatibility.
• Excellent corrosion resistance.

Despite being the most expensive wire of all the 4 types, it is still
considered by orthodontists due to its advantages.
 DISADVANTAGES
• Ti containing alloys have a tendency to bind to the dies/ rollers surface
during wire processing – adherence/ cold welding
o This increases surface roughness of wires – high values of archwire –
bracket friction.
o There may be even adherence/ cold welding of wire to bracket slots at
localized sites.
o To overcome – N+ ion implantation technique – research req. to assess
clinical efficiency.

• Due to reactivity of titanium – problems during wire processing – few

batches of wires – susceptible to fracture during clinical manipulation.
 NICKEL –
TITANIUM
(NI-TI)
INTRODUCTION
• Developed by Buehler and assc. at Naval
Ordinance Laboratory.
• 1st introduced commercially during 1970s - Nitinol
• Nickel + Titanium + Naval Ordinance Laboratory =
NiTiNOL

• Pioneer for development of NiTi wire for

orthodontics was Andreasen and assc. in early
1970s
 COMPOSITION
NICKEL APPROX. 55%
TITANIUM APPROX. 45%
COPPER OR OTHER SMALL AMOUNTS
ELEMENTS

• NiTi alloy in dentistry – equiatomic intermetallic compound NiTi.

• Equiatomic proportions of Ni, Ti.
• Other elements – Co, Cu, Cr.
 WHAT IS AN INTERMETALLIC
COMPOUND
• Most alloys – no complete solid solubility.
• When solute element > solid solubility – different phase – intermediate
phase.
• Crystal structure is different from both primary elements.
• Intermediate phase with fixed compositions – intermetallic compounds.
• In an ordinary alloy, the constituents are randomly positioned in the crystal
lattice.
• In an ordered intermetallic compound, the atoms (in this case, nickel and
titanium) have very specific locations in the lattice.
 FORMS OF NI-TI
INTERMETALLIC
COMPOUND
• Exists in different crystal structures
• Martensitic NiTi phase – distorted monoclinic/ triclinic/ hexagonal structure.
• Austenitic NiTi phase – complex ordered bcc.
 FORMS OF NI-TI
INTERMETALLIC
• Austenitic
COMPOUND
temperature
Martensitic

stress

• Austenitic – high temp and low stress form.

• Martensitic – low temp and high stress form.

• 3rd form – R phase – rhombohedral crystal structure

Intermediate phase during transformation
 TWINNING PROCESS
• Transformation occurs by a twinning process.
Reversible below the elastic limit.
• Martensite's crystal structure has the unique ability
to undergo limited deformation in some ways
without breaking atomic bonds.
he
• This type of deformation is known as TWINNING. at
in
g

• Consists of the rearrangement of atomic planes

without causing slip, or permanent deformation.
• When martensite is reverted to austenite by
heating, the original austenitic structure is restored,
regardless of whether the martensite phase was
deformed.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Modulus of Elasticity 34 GPa
Yield Strength 210-410 MPa
Springback 0.0058-0.016
Ultimate Tensile Strength 1.5 GPa

• Much lower elastic modulus – very low orthodontic forces.

• High ductility
• High resilience – placement of permanent bends by clinician is difficult.
• Capability of undergoing work hardening (high T.S compared to Y.S)
• Springback or elastic range is greater.
 SUPER ELASTICITY
• Original nitinol wire – made from predominantly heavily work hardened martensite – non
super elastic.

• Mid 1980s –NiTi wires with superelasticity were introduced commercially – Chinese NiTi
(NiTi by Ormco), Japanese NiTi(Sentalloy by GAC).

• Compared to original NiTi – they contain substantial austenitic NiTi at room temperature/
Body temperature.

• It is the ability of an alloy to undergo extensive deformation resulting from stress

assisted phase transformation – reverse transformation on unloading.

• Desirable clinically – very low and nearly constant forces for tooth movement are
provided by the wire during unloading.

• Heat treatment at 600oC eliminated superelastic behavior.

 SUPER ELASTICITY

• Segment a-b – initial elastic deformation of wire

• b-c – austenitic to martensitic transformation
• c – transformation is complete (typically at 10% strain)
• c-d – plastic deformation and further elastic deformation
• During unloading
• d-e – loss of elastic strain in martensitic
• e-f – transformation back to austenitic
• f-a – loss of elastic strain in austenitic
• Small amount permanent deflection remains in the wire
 SHAPE MEMORY
• Introduced in early 1990s – Neosantalloy by GAC
• "Shape Memory" describes the effect of restoring the original shape of a
plastically deformed sample by heating it.
• This phenomenon results from a crystalline phase change known as
"thermoelastic martensitic transformation".
• The shape memory effect (SME) is assc. with a reversible austenite –
martensite transformation which occurs rapidly by crystallographic
twinning at atomic level.
 SHAPE MEMORY
• A shape is established when the alloy is heated above transformation
temperature (austenite form at higher temp).

• At temperatures below the transformation temperature. shape memory alloys

are martensitic.

• The martensite is soft and can be deformed quite easily by twinning.

• Heating above the transformation temperature recovers the original shape

and converts the material to its high strength austenitic condition.
PHASE TRANSFORMATION
TEMPERATURES

• As = austenite start temperature

• Af = austenite finish temperature

• Wide variety of NiTi wires - %of martensitic and austenitic NiTi phases
• Variation in composition – variation in phase transformation temperatures.
• variation in phase transformation temperatures – also by amount of cold work and
annealing temperatures during wire processing
 SHAPE MEMORY
• Thus the name "shape memory" refers to the fact that the shape of the high
temperature austenite phase is "remembered," even though the alloy is
severely deformed at a lower temperature.

• Clinical use
• Oral environment raises the temperature of deformed arch wire (with
martensitic structure) – transformation occurs to austenitic form and
returns to original shape
 IMPORTANT NOTE

• Af temperature of shape memory alloys – below the temp. of oral

environment – wires have essentially complete austenitic structure in vivo.

• Non superelastic alloys- substantial quantities of heavily cold worked and

stable martensite – As is much higher than room temp./ temp. of oral
environment.

• Superelastic alloys – microstructures are incompletely transformed to

austenite at oral environment temp – Af > 37oC
 ADVANTAGES OF SHAPE
MEMORY WIRES
• Superior springback when compared to non superelastic and superelastic
NiTi wires.

• In principle, they are the most desirable NiTi wires for orthodontic use but
should be verified by clinical studies.
 COPPER NITI WIRES
• Introduced in mid 1990s.
• Composition
TITANIUM 51%
NICKEL 44%
COPPER Slightly less than 5%
CHROMIUM 0.2-0.5%

• 3 different variants – depending on their approx. austenite finish

temperatures
• 27oC
• 35oC
• 40oC
 COPPER NITI WIRES
• Shape memory occurs for each variant at
temp. exceeding the specified temperatures.
• Useful for different types of orthodontic
patients.
• 27oC - mouth breathers
• 35oC - activated at normal body temp.
• 40oC - activated only after consuming
hot food and beverages
 ADVANTAGES
• Very low elastic modulus
• High springback.

DISADVANTAGES
• Difficult to form into clinical shapes – permanent bends cannot be readily
placed.
• Cannot be soldered or welded – joined by mechanical crimping
• Ti – rough wire surface – high values of archwire bracket friction.- prolonged
time needed for treatment.
• high nickel content – concern about biocompatibility.
 COMPARISION OF 4 MAJOR ALLOYS
CHARACTERISTIC SS ELGILOY B-TITANIUM NITI
Elastic Modulus High High Moderate Low
Strength Excellent Good Good Poor
Spring Back Low Low Intermediate High
Formability Good Excellent Good Poor
Ease Of Joining •Can be soldered •Can be soldered True weldability Cannot be
•Welded joints – •Welded joints – soldered or
reinforced with reinforced with welded
solder solder
Shape Memory X X X Present
Super Elasticity X X X Present
Resiliency Moderate Good Excellent Good
Force Delivery High High Intermediate Light
Concern About Some Some None High
Biocompatibility
Cost Low Low High High
Archwire – Bracket Low Low High High
Friction
 CLINICAL SELECTION OF
ORTHODONTIC WIRES - DISCUSSION
• SS AN ELGILOY are the least expensive wires
• They have excellent formability and good joining characteristics
• They don’t attach to roller/die surfaces – smoth surface – relatively low
archwire – bracket friction.
• Both have ni – biocompatibility concern. Several decades of clinical use-
minimal problem
 CLINICAL SELECTION OF
ORTHODONTIC WIRES - DISCUSSION
• B-TITANIUM more expensive but still considered
• Force delivery and elastic range and spring back – intermediate to SS and
Elgiloy and NiTi – can select greater diameter wires
• Outstanding formability – fabricating archwires/ segments with complicated
loop configurations – not possible with NiTi
• Weldability is very useful when assembly of complex appliance
 CLINICAL SELECTION OF
ORTHODONTIC WIRES - DISCUSSION
• NITI have the lightest force delivery
• But expensive, poor formability and cannot be soldered
• Neverthless, wide application in variety of cases – outstanding springback and
excellent elastic range
• Archwire bracket friction is higher than NiTi
• Superelastic and shape memory NiTi wires are particularly useful where large
deflections are necessary for badly malpositioned teeth

• One must consider all these properties of each kind of wire and select the
appropriate wire for each case..
THANK YOU