Dynamic mechanical properties of straight titanium alloy arch wires

Eight straight-wire materials were studied: an orthodontic titanium-molybdenum (Ti-Mo) product, TMA; three orthodontic nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) products, Nitinol, Titanal, and Orthonol; three prototype alloys, a martensitic, an austenitic, and a biphasic alloy; and a hybrid shape-memory-effect product, Biometal. Each wire was prepared with a length-to-cross-sectional area of at least 3600 cm-1. With an Autovibron Model DDV-II-C used in the tensile mode, each sample was scanned from -120 to +200 degrees C at 2 degrees C/min. From the data base, plots of the log storage modulus, log tan delta, and percent change in length vs. temperature were generated. Results showed that the dynamic mechanical properties of the alloys within this TI system are quite different. The Ti-Mo alloy, TMA, was invariant with temperature, having a modulus of 7.30 x 10(11) dyne/cm2 (10.6 x 10(6) psi). The three cold-worked alloys--Nitinol, Titanal, and Orthonol--appeared to be similar, having a modulus of 5.74 x 10(11) dyne/cm2 (8.32 x 10(6) psi). The biphasic shape-memory alloy displayed a phase transformation near ambient temperature; whereas the hybrid shape-memory product, Biometal, underwent a 3-5% change in length during its transformation between 95 and 125 degrees C. Among the Ni-Ti wires tested, several different types of alloys were represented by this intermetallic material.