Alternative process to manufacture austenitic-ferritic stainless steel wires

In a general manner, the austenitic stainless steels are used in the final phases of orthodontic treatments because of the remarkable stiffness and ultimate strength, in addition to its good corrosion resistance. Nowadays, a new class of materials, the austenic-ferritic stainless steels, is substituting the austenitic stainless steels in several industrial applications, where these properties are necessary. This work supports the hypothesis that orthodontic wires can be made with austenic-ferritic stainless steels. The advantages are the cost reduction of the raw material and the nickel hypersensitivity effect in patients undergoing orthodontic treatments. The proposal of this study was to manufacture wires from the austenitic-ferritic stainless steel SEW 410 Nr. 14517 (Cr26Ni6Mo3Cu3) and to evaluate the microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture morphology. The wires were obtained through swaging and drawing process and presented ultimate strength as required in the standard for medical devices. One other advantage is that the ordinary process to manufacture austenitic stainless steels wires can be used for the austenitic-ferritic steel due to its high ductility as seen in the tensile testing and fracture morphology analysis. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.