Stainless Steel Brackets: In Vitro Corrosion Behaviour and Mechanical Debonding Test

The purpose of the study was to investigate the microchemical, morphological, mechanical and anticorrosive characteristics of the metallic brackets by using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical and shear tests. The changes resulted from the exposure of the metallic brackets to artificial saliva and debonding forces were investigated under orthodontic appliances. The results have shown that metallic brackets studied in this paper present a good design, great electrochemical behaviour in artificial saliva for different pH values (2, 5 and 7), and also great mechanical properties. In the case of shear stress the obtained values were higher than the clinical accepted value. The metallic brackets studied in this paper present a good behaviour in artificial saliva, and good mechanical characteristics. The ARI investigation revealed that most of the adhesive was left on the bracket.