Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare the corrosion behaviours of two aluminium bronze, dental casting alloys during a standard immersion test and for immersion in neutral saline.
METHODS: Cast specimens of aluminium bronzes with 1.4 wt% Fe (G) and 4 wt% Fe (N) were subject to progressively longer periods (up to in total 7 days) immersed in 0.1 M saline, 0.1 M lactic acid solutions and examined by scanning electron microscopy with EDX analysis. Immersion in 0.1M neutral saline was for 7 days.
RESULTS: In the acidic solution, exposed interdendritic volumes in alloy N corroded completely away in 7 days with dissolution of Ni-enriched precipitate species as well as the copper-rich matrix. Alloy G begins to corrode more slowly but by a similar mechanism. The number density of an Fe-enriched species is insufficient to maintain a continuous galvanic potential to the copper matrix, and dissolution becomes imperceptible. In neutral saline solution, galvanic action alone caused pit-etching, without the dissolution of either precipitate species.
SIGNIFICANCE:The upper limit for the total dissolution of metallic ions in the standard immersion test can be set at 200 microg cm(-2). Aluminium bronze dental alloys can be expected to release both copper and nickel ions into an acidic oral environment.
Reference
Corrosion of dental aluminium bronze in neutral saline and saline lactic acid.
Tibballs JE, Erimescu R.
Dent Mater. 2006 Sep;22(9):793–8. Epub 2005 Dec 28.