BEND TESTING OF WROUGHT WIRE REMOVABLE PARTIAL DENTURE ALLOYS

The flexibility of the wrought wire clasp is related to a number of fa ctors, including the type and gauge of the alloy. The purpose of this study was to compare the bend behavior of five wrought wire alloys use d in removable partial dentures. The alloys and their gauge diameters (in millimeters) were Ticonium (18, 19, 20), platinum-gold-palladium ( 18, 19), Wironium (18, 20), Jelenko Standard (18, 19, 20), and Denture Clasp (18, 19, 20). A total of 12 to 15 samples of each dental alloy were tested. Three-point bending was performed on a servohydraulic tes ting system controlled by a computer at 1.00 mm/sec until fracture or actuator contact occurred. Maximum stress and elastic modulus in bendi ng were determined for each gauge diameter. Analysis of variance and p ost hoc Scheffe statistical analyses revealed significant maximum stre ss and elastic modulus in bending differences for different alloys of the same gauge and for different gauges of the same alloy. The choice of material and the gauge diameter significantly influenced the mechan ical property of bending for wrought wire removable partial denture al loys. The Ticonium alloy had the greatest elastic modulus (stiffest) a t all levels and the Denture Clasp and the Jelenko Standard alloys had the lowest elastic modulus (most flexible). These data indicate that knowledge of the bending properties of an alloy is equally as importan t as the gauge size when selecting a wire clasp.