Archwire refers to a wire secured to two or more teeth through fixed attachments to cause, guide, or control orthodontic tooth

movement. Orthodontic wires are available in cross-sections of

Round
Square
Rectangular
Combination of round and rectangular.
The wires may be:
Single stranded
Multistranded
Twisted or braided.
Wire dimensions The most popular international standards for adhering to this specification are mentioned in International
Organization for Standardization (ISO/CD) 15841.
Round wires are available in the dimensions of 0.010",
0.012", 0.014", 0.016", 0.018", 0.020", 0.022".
Square wires are available in 0.016"x 0.016"
Rectangular wires are available in 0.016" x 0.022", 0.017" x 0.025", 0.018" x 0.025", 0.019" x 0.025", 0.0215"x 0.0275"
dimensions.
A rectangular wire, therefore, has a thickness and width which corresponds the bracket slot. The standard size of bracket slots are
0.022"x0.028" or 0.018"x0.028".
Thickness for a rectangular wire is always the smaller dimension and it fills the height of the slot of the bracket. It is the
dimension in the plane of the bend.
Width for a rectangular wire is always the larger dimension, and it fills the depth of the slot of the bracket.
Strain Yield strength Ultimate tensile strength Proportional limit Elastic limit Flexibility Modulus of elasticity
Strain or work hardening or cold working: It is the process of plastically deforming a metal at a temperature lower than at which
it recrystallizes new grains. This temperature is usually one-third to one-half of its absolute melting point. Cold working disrupts
the normal atomic arrangement and incorporates strain across, the grain boundaries.
Cyclic fatigue: If there is repeated cyclic stress of a magnitude below the fracture point of a wire, then fracture of the wire can
occur. This is due to cyclic fatigue.
Brittleness: This is considered being the opposite of toughness. A brittle material cannot undergo plastic deformation.
Hysteresis: The difference between the energy required to activate the wire by deflection and that released by it during
deactivation. This is called energy loss or hysteresis.
Heat treatment: It refers to a general process of using thermal energy to change the characteristics of metallic alloys as in
tempering, precipitation hardening or annealing. In a clinical setting different wires are heat treated according to manufacturers
recommendations. A wire is considered heat treated when it appears straw coloured.
Annealing: It is the process of reversing the effects of cold working such as strain hardening, distorted grains, etc. by simply
heating the metal. In clinical setting a wire is considered annealed when it appears red hot.
Bauschinger effect: This denotes the phenomena when the material is strained beyond its yield point in one direction, and then
strained in the reverse direction, its yield strength in the reverse direction is reduced.