SANTOSH DENTAL COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF ORTHODONTICS
AND DENTOFACIAL ORTHOPEDICS
STAINLESS STEEL

• PRESENTED BY:
DR.HARSHITA DABAS
CONTENT

• INTRODUCTION
• HISTORY
• COMPOSITION
• CLASSIFICATION
• PROPERTIES
• USES IN ORTHODONTICS
• REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION

• Iron and the most common iron alloy, steel, are from a corrosion view point
relatively poor materials since they rust in air, corrode in acids and scale in furnace
atmosphere.
• In spite of this there is a group of iron-base alloys, the iron-chromium-nickel alloys
known as stainless steels, which do not rust in seawater, are resistant to
concentrated acids and which do not scale at temperatures up to 1100°C
 HISTORY

• first introduced by Harry Brearly of Sheffield in 1912 for the rifling of gun
barrels.

• The history of stainless steel in orthodontics starts back in the early 1930s. By
that time gold alloys were the first choice.

• The stainless property of this material was first reported by Monnartz around
1900-1910, although Dumas, Guillet, and Portevin manufactured it before that
time in France.
 HISTORY

• Begg in early 1940s, partnered with Wilcox to make a different

type of stainless steel wire: Australian stainless steel.

•In 1930 Angle used stainless steel as ligature wires. By 1937,

value of stainless steel as an orthodontic wire was confirmed
STEELS

• Steels are iron based alloys containing less than 1.2% carbon.
• It crystallizes into more than one structure such as ferritic, martensitic
& austenitic property called as Allotropy.
• At room temp pure iron is bcc structure referred as ferrite (alpha
form).This is stable till 912º C. the space between atoms in body
centered cubic (BCC) structure are small, hence carbon has very low
stability in this phase.
• At temp. btw 912-1394ºC stable form is face centered cubic (FCC)
structure (gamma form) and called as Austenite, it was termed after a
well known metallurgist Robert Austen

• Transformation of Austenite to body centered tetragonal (BCT)

structure is called as Martensite, which is highly distorted and strained
resulting in n extremely hard, strong and brittle alloy.
TYPES OF STEEL
CARBON STEEL
ALLOY STEEL
STAINLESS STEEL
TOOL STEEL
STAINLESS STEEL
 1) Ferritic stainless steel
2) Martensitic stainless steel

CLASSIFICATIO 3) Austenitic stainless steel

4) Duplex stainless steel
N 5) Precipitation-hardening
stainless steel
FERRITIC
STAINLESS STEEL
• 12%-29% chromium and <2% nickel
• AISI 400 series
• Most inexpensive due to low nickel content
• Magnetic, ductile and corrosion resistant
• Cannot be heat treated
• Poor weldability and workability
• Body centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure
MARTENSITIC
STAINLESS STEEL
• 0.15%-1% carbon and 12%-18%chromium
• AISI 400 series with ferritic alloys
• Can be heat treated
• Possess high strength and hardness
• Low corrosion resistance
• Suitable for manufacturing surgical instruments
• Body centered tetragonal (bct) crystal structure
AUSTENITIC
STAINLESS STEEL
• 17%-20% chromium, 8%-12% nickel and
0.08%-0.15% carbon
• AISI 300 series
• Excellent corrosion resistance, formability,
weldability, ductility and wear resistance.
• Can not be heat treated
• Most commonly used for
fabrication of orthodontic brackets and wires
• Face centered cubic crystal structure
 • Greater ductility and ability to
AUSTENITIC undergo more cold work
STAINLESS without fracturing
• Substantial
STEEL IS strengthening during cold
PREFERABLE TO working
• Greater ease of welding
FERRITIC • Ability to overcome
STAINLESS sensitization

STEEL • Less critical grain growth

• Comparative ease of forming
BECAUSE:
DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL

• Composed of mixture of austenitic and delta-ferritic phases.

• 18%-26% chromium, 4%-7% nickel and 2%-3% molybednum
• AISI 2205 series
• High weldability, higher tensile strength, high toughness and more
ductility and good corrosion resistance
• Show better resistance to inter-granular corrosion and uniform
corrosion than austenitic types
PRECIPITATION-HARDENING
STAINLESS STEEL

• 15.50%-17.50% chromium, 3%-5% nickel, 0.07% carbon, 3%-5% copper and

lower amounts of manganese, silicon, phosphorus and sulfur
• AISI 630 series, also known as 17-4PH
• Semi-austenitic stainless steel
• Has a wide range of applications, including medical and dental fields
• Highly ductile, good corrosion resistance and strength.
COBALT AND NICKEL CONTAINING
ALLOYS

• Commonly used in orthodontics for wires and brackets

• Some alloys such as Elgiloy & Flexiloy not only contain iron but also a large portion of
nickel, some other are nickel free.
• These are generally corrosion resistant.
MANGANESE CONTAINING ALLOY

• Manganese is used to replace nickel

• It acts interstitially dissolving the really austenizing element nickel
• At high portions needed (18%), manganese increases the susceptibility of the alloy to
corrosion.
 Modulus of Elasticity
• 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. It is the ratio of stress to strain.
MECHANICAL • It is the slope of stree-strain curve(if the slope
PROPERTIES is more horizontal, then it is springier and if the
slope is more vertical it is stiffer). Wire
with low modulus of elsticity has increased
flexibility.
• Modulus of elasticity of stainless
steel is 170000-200000 MPa
STRESS-
STRAIN
CURVE
STRENGTH

• The strength necessary to cause fracture is the ultimate strength(ultimate tensile strength of
stainless steel is 2200MPa)
• The stress required to cause a specified amount of plastic deformation is yield strength
(yield strength of stainless steel is 1100-1750 MPa)
TOUGHNESS
• It is the amount of elastic and plastic deformation energy required to fracture a material,
toughness increases with strength and ductility.

BRITTLENESS
• It is the relative inability of a material to sustain plastic deformation before fracture
occurs.
DUCTILITY

• It represents the ability of a material to

sustain a large permanent deformation
under a tensile load before it
fractures(drawn readily into wires).

MALLEABILITY

• The ability of a material to sustain

considerable permanent deformation
without rupture under compression.
Because of this property stainless steel
can be made into bands.
HARDNESS
• It is defined as the resistance of a material to indentation.
PASSIVATION

• It is the formation of a transparent, insoluble film on the surface of stainless steel

alloys that is stabilized by chromium through chromium oxide.
• If the continuity of this film is broken by different processes, it will reform
naturally within a very short period of time.
CORROSION

CAUSES:
• If the surface inhomogenity is present, it allows corrosion cells to form in presence of
saliva
• If bits of carbon steel is incorporated on the metal surface as in manipulation of stainless
steel wire with carbon steel pliers.
• Brazed or soldered joints can form galvanic couples and cause corrosion.
• Stainless steel are susceptible to attack by solutions containing chlorine
TYPES:

• Uniform attack
• Pitting and crevice corrosion
• Galvanic corrosion
• Intergranular corrosion
• Fretting corrosion
• Corrosion fatigue
• Microbiologically-influenced corrosion
SENSITIZATION

• When austenitic stainless steel is heated between approximately 400°C and 900°C, iron-
chromium-carbides precipitate along the grain boundaries and chromium is depleted near
the grain boundaries below concentrations necessary for protection.
• Thus, stainless steel becomes susceptible to intergranular corrosion, and partial
disintegration of the weakened alloy may result.
METHODS TO REDUCE SENSITIZATION:

• Reduce the carbon content of steel to an extent that such carbide precipitation cannot occur
• If stainless steel is severely cold worked and heated within sensitization temperature range,
the chromium iron carbides instead precipitate at dislocations, which are located on slip
planes within the bulk grains. As a result the carbides are more uniformly distributed
throughout the alloy (rather than forming a network of grain boundary precipitates)
STABILIZATION

• It is the method employed most successfully in industrial practice to present the

sensitization of stainless steel at elevated temperature. Titanium plus tantalum or niobium
is added to the alloy that form carbide precipitates in preference to chromium
STRAIN HARDENING/WORK
HARDENING/ COLD WORKING

• Deformation of space lattice of metals by mechanical manipulation at room temperature is

called cold working.
• Hardening of metal by cold working is called as strain hardening/ work hardening.
• Surface hardness, strength, proportional limit of metals are increased with strain hardening.
The effects associated with cold working can be reversed by heating the metal to an
appropriate elevated temperature. This process is called as annealing.
STRESS RELIEF HEAT TREATMENT

• An increase in elastic properties of stainless steel wire can be obtained by heating it to

temperatures between 400°C and 500°C for 5-120 seconds after it has been cold worked.
• This promotes the recovery annealing stage, which removes residual stress introduced
during manipulation.
• It stabilizes the shape of the appliance.
ANNEALING

• Controlled heating and cooling process designed to produce desired properties in a metal.
The annealing process usually is intended to soften metals, to increase their plastic
deformation potential, to stabilize shape and to increase machinability
• It consists of 3 stages:
- recovery
- recrystallization
- grain growth
• RECOVERY: In this stage properties of cold worked metal begins to disappear. There is
very slight decrease in tensile strength & no change in ductility is seen. Orthodontic
appliances fabricated by bending wires are often subjected to a stress- relief anneal before
their placement. This stabilizes the configuration of an appliance and allows accurate
determination of the force in the mouth. It will also reduce the chances of fracture during
clinical adjustment.
• RECRYSTALLIZATION: it occurs after the recovery stage. A radical change in
microstructure occurs and the old deformed grains disappear completely and are replaced
by new strain free grains. These new grains nucleate in the most severely cold worked
regions in the metal and their grain boundary migration consumes the original cold worked
structure. After completion, metal attains its original soft and ductile condition.
• GRAIN GROWTH: the average grain size of
recrystallized structure depends on the initial
number of nuclei. The more severe the cold
working. The greater the number of such nuclei
and the grain size for the recrystallized metal
can be ranging from fine to coarse. If
recrystallized metal is further annealed, grain
growth occurs in such a way to minimize the
grain boundary area with large grains
consuming small grains.
 • Brackets and buccal tubes
• Molar bands
• Auxiliaries (lingual button, lingual sheath)
• Ligature wires
USES OF • Orthodontic pliers

STAINLESS • Cutting pliers

• Arch wires

STEEL IN • Instrument stands, instrument trays

• Impression trays
ORTHODONTICS • Different parts of orthodontic appliance
REFERENCES

• House K, Sernetz F, Dymock D, Sandy JR, Ireland AJ. Corrosion of Orthodontic

Appliances—Should We Care? American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial
Orthopedics. 2008.
• Arango S, Ossa CML. Stainless steel: material facts for the orthodontic practitioner.
Revista Nacional de Odontologia. 2015
• Dental Materials by Phillips
• Biomaterials in orthodontics by William A Brantley
• Begg orthodontic theory and technique
THANK YOU