title: Mechanical properties of a new thermoplastic polymer orthodontic archwire.
abstract: A new thermoplastic polymer for orthodontic applications was obtained and extruded into wires with round and rectangular cross sections. We evaluated the potential of new aesthetic archwire: tensile, three point bending, friction and stress relaxation behaviour, and formability characteristics were assessed. Stresses delivered were generally slightly lower than typical beta-titanium and nickel-titanium archwires. The polymer wire has good instantaneous mechanical properties; tensile stress decayed about 2% over 2h depending on the initial stress relaxation for up to 120h. High formability allowed shape bending similar to that associated with stainless steel wires. The friction coefficients were lower than the metallic conventional archwires improving the slipping with the brackets. This new polymer could be a good candidate for aesthetic orthodontic archwires.
authors: Grupo de investigación en Ortodoncia, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors: Juan Carlos
authors: JC
authors: Varela
authors: Grupo de investigación en Ortodoncia, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors: Marcos
authors: M
authors: Velo
authors: Grupo de investigación en Ortodoncia, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Eduardo
authors: E
authors: Espinar
authors: Grupo de investigación en Ortodoncia, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Jose Maria
authors: JM
authors: Llamas
authors: Dept. C. Materiales e Ing. Metalúrgica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Centre de Recerca Nanoenginyeria, Member of Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN, Spain.
authors: Elisa
authors: E
authors: Rúperez
authors: Dept. C. Materiales e Ing. Metalúrgica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Centre de Recerca Nanoenginyeria, Member of Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN, Spain.
authors: Jose Maria
authors: JM
authors: Manero
authors: Dept. C. Materiales e Ing. Metalúrgica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Centre de Recerca Nanoenginyeria, Member of Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN, Spain. Electronic address: francesc.xavier.gil@upc.edu.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Javier Gil
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D017276:Friction; D008422:Materials Testing; D009969:Orthodontic Wires; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011108:Polymers
keywords: Friction; Mechanical properties; Orthodontic applications; Polymer archwire