Effect of Environment on Fatigue Failure of Controlled Memory Wire Nickel-Titanium Rotary Instruments

Introduction: This study examined the fatigue behavior of 2 types of nickel-titanium (NiTi) instruments made from a novel controlled memory NiTi wire (CM wire) under various environment conditions. Methods: Three conventional superelastic NiTi instruments of Pro File (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), Typhoon (Clinician's Choice Dental Products, New Milford, CT), and DS-SS0250425NEYY (Clinician's Choice Dental Products) and 2 new CM wire instruments of Typhoon CM and DS-SS0250425NEYY CM were subjected to rotational bending at the curvature of 35 in air, deionized water, 17% EDTA, or deionized water after immersion in 6% sodium hypochlorite for 25 minutes, and the number of revolutions of fracture (Ni) was recorded. The fracture surface of all fragments was examined by a scanning electron microscope. The crack-initiation sites and the percentage of dimple area to the whole fracture cross-section were noted. Results: Two new CM Wire instruments yielded an improvement of >4 to 9 times in Nf than conventional NiTi files with the same design under various environments (P <.05). The fatigue life of 3 conventional superelastic NiTi instruments was similar under various environments, whereas the Nf of 2 new CM Wire instruments was significantly longer in liquid media than in air (P <.05). The vast majority of CM instruments showed multiple crack origins, whereas most instruments made from conventional NiTi wire had one crack origin. The values of the area fraction occupied by the dimple region were significantly smaller on CM NiTi instruments than in conventional NiTi instruments under various environments (P <.05). Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, the type of NiTi metal alloy (CM files vs conventional superelastic NiTi files) influences the cyclic fatigue resistance under various environments. The fatigue life of CM instruments is longer in liquid media than in air. (JI Endod 2012;38:376-380)