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. 2021 Feb 9;14(4):827.
doi: 10.3390/ma14040827.

Mechanical Properties and Wear Resistance of Commercial Stainless Steel Used in Dental Instruments

Hye-Bin Go  1   2 , Jae-Yun Bang  3 , Kyoung-Nam Kim  3 , Kwang-Mahn Kim  1   2 , Jae-Sung Kwon  1   2
Affiliations

Mechanical Properties and Wear Resistance of Commercial Stainless Steel Used in Dental Instruments

Hye-Bin Go et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the element composition and grain size of commercial dental instruments used for ultrasonic scaler tips, which are composed of stainless-steel materials. The differences in mechanical properties and wear resistances were compared. The samples were classified into 4 groups in accordance with the manufacturer, Electro Medical Systems, 3A MEDES, DMETEC and OSUNG MND, and the element compositions of each stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip were analyzed with micro-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (μXRF) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). One-way ANOVA showed that there were significant differences in shear strength and Vickers hardness among the stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tips depending on the manufacturer (p < 0.05). The mass before and after wear were found to have no significant difference among groups (p > 0.05), but there was a significant difference in the wear volume loss (p < 0.05). The results were then correlated with μXRF results as well as observations of grain size with optical microscopy, which concluded that the Fe content and the grain size of the stainless steel have significant impacts on strength. Additionally, stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tips with higher Vickers hardness values showed greater wear resistance, which would be an important wear characteristic for clinicians to check.

Keywords: Vickers hardness; dental instrument; stainless steel; ultrasonic scaler tip; wear resistance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Four commercial stainless steel ultrasonic scaler tips used in the study and produced by (A) Electro Medical Systems, (B) 3A MEDES, (C) DMETEC and (D) OSUNG MND.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Image of the metal block holding the stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip firmly in place and the metal block contact surface parallel to the jig.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Custom jig used to test the wear of a stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip. (B) Shape of a stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip during the wear test, as seen from the bottom.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Shape of the stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip used for the calculation of the stainless-steel ultrasonic scaler tip wear volume loss.
Figure 5
Figure 5
XRF spectra of the (A) EM (B) AM (C) DM and (D) OM groups.
Figure 6
Figure 6
EDS elemental mapping images and spectrum of the (A) EM (B) AM (C) DM and (D) OM groups.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparison of shear strength (A) and Vickers hardness (B) for each group. Differences in lowercase alphabetical letters above the bar graphs indicate significant differences among the groups (p < 0.05).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Representative images analyzer (upper row) and SEM images (lower row) obtained for each group of surfaces before and after the wear test: (A) EM, (B) AM, (C), DM and (D) OM. Scale bar is 1 µm.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Comparison of wear volume loss for each group after the wear test. Differences in lowercase alphabetical letters above the bar graph indicate significant differences among the groups (p < 0.05).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Microstructures of (A) EM, (B) AM, (C) DM and (D) OM observed by optical microscopy. Scale bar is 40 µm (A,D) and 20 µm (B,C).
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