ALLOYS USED IN FPD

DR.SHARAZ SHAIK
DEPT.OF PROSTHODONTICS
GOVT.DENTAL COLLAGE AND HOSPITAL
HYDERABAD
 INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION

2. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON DENTAL CASTING ALLOYS

3. DESIABLE PROPERTIES OF CASTING ALLOYS

4. CLASSIFICATION OF CASTING ALLOYS

5. ALLOYS FOR ALL METAL & RESIN VENEER RESTORATIONS

6. ALLOYS FOR METAL CERAMIC RESTORATIONS

7. BASE METAL ALLOYS

8. HANDLING HAZARDS & PRECAUTIONS

9. CONCLUSIONS
 INTRODUCTION:

An alloy is defined as for dental purposes as a metal containing two (or ) more
elements, at least one of which is a metal and all of which are mutually soluble in
Molten State. Although there are some similarities between the characteristics of pure
metals & alloys addition of other metals to a pure metal complicate the picture relative
to certain fundamental aspects not yet considered.

An alloy system is an aggregate of two or more metals in all possible

combinations. For example the gold - silver systems includes all possible
concentrations of gold & silver.

Historical perspective on Dental Casting alloys: -

The history of dental casting alloys has been influenced by three factors:
1. The technologic changes of dental prosthesis.
2. Metallurgic advancements.
3. Price changes of noble metals.

'The lost wax technique' described by Jaggart in 1907 led to the casting of
Complex inlays such as onlays, crowns, fixed partial dentures & removable partial
denture frameworks.
In 1932, the dental materials group at the national bureau of standards surveyed
the alloys & roughly classified them as

Type I Soft (Vickers hardness No - 50 -90)

Type II Medium (VHN - 90 - 120)
Type III Hard (VHN - 120 - 150)
Type IV Extra Hard (VHN - >150)
 The base metal alloys were introduced in 1930s. Since that time both Nickel-
Chromium, & Cobalt - Chromium formulation have become increasingly popular
compared to conventional gold alloys, which previously were the predominant metals
used for such prostheses. The advantages of base metal alloys are their lower Wt,
increased mechanical properties & reduced cost.

Desirable Properties of Casting Alloys: -

The metals must exhibit biocompatibility, ease of melting, casting, brazing (or
soldering) & polishing, little solidification shrinkage, minimal reactivity & the mold
material, good wear resistance, high strength and sag resistance.

Classification of casting Alloys:-

In 1927, the Bureau of standards established gold Casting alloy types I through
IV according to dental function, & hardness increasing from TYPE I through IV. Based
on 1989 revision of specification No - 5 by the ADA, the four alloy types are classified
by their properties & not by their compositions;

Type I - (Soft) - Small inlays, easily burnished & subject to very slight stress.

Type II- (Medium) - Inlays subject to moderate stress, including 3/4 crowns,
abutments, pontics, & full crowns.

Type III -( Hard ) - Inlays subject to high stress, including onlays, crowns, thin cast
backings, abutments, pontics,full crowns, & short span FPD'S.

Type IV - (Extra hard) - Inlays subject to high stresses, including denture base bars
& clasps, long span FPD's endodontic posts & Cones, thin veneer crowns & RPDS.

In 1984 ADA proposed simple classification for dental casting alloys. Three
categories, are described; High Noble (HN) Noble (N) and Predominantly base metal
( PB).
High Noble Metal - Contains >40 WT % Au, 60 WT % of the noble metal elements (
Au + Ir + Pt + Rh+Ru)

Noble Metal - Contains > 25 WT% of noble metal elements.

PB Metal - Contains < 25WT% of Noble metal Elements.

Classification of Alloys for all Metal restorations, Metal - ceramic restoration:-

Alloy All Metal Metal

Type Ceramic
High Au-Ag-Cu- Au- Pt-Pd
noble Pd Au-Pd-Ag
alloys Metal Au- Pd.
Ceramic ( No Ag)
Alloys
Noble Ag-Pd-Au- Pd- Au
metal Cu Pd-Au-Ag
alloys Ag-Pd Pd-Ag
Metal - Pd-Cu
Ceramic Pd-Co
Pd-Ga-Ag
Base Ti - Al - V Pure Ti
metal Pure Ti Ti - Al - V
alloys Ni - Cr - Ni-Cr-Mo-
Mo- Be Be
Co-Cr-Mo Ni-Cr-Mo
Co-Cr-W Co-Cr-Mo
Al Bronze Co-Cr-W

Alloys for All metal & Resin Veneer Restorations :

 Traditional Type III & IV alloys are called Crown & bridge alloys, although Type
IV alloys also are used occasionally for high - stress applications such as removable
partial denture frameworks.

Gold Alloys can be significantly hardened if the alloy contains a significant

amount of copper. The actual mechanism of hardening is probably the result of several
different solid - state transformations.

Alloy that can be hardened can, of course, also be softened. In metallurgic

terminology the softening heat treatment is referred to as solution heat treatment. The
hardening heat treatment is termed age hardening.

Softening heat treatment: -

The Casting is placed in an electric furnace for 10 min at a temp of 700. C and
then it is quenched in water. Such a Rx reduces the tensile strength, proportional limit
& hardness but the ductility is increased

Hardening heat Rx: -

One of the most practical hardening Rx is by 'soaking' or aging the casting at a
specific temperature for a definite time usually 15- 30 minutes, before it is water
quenched. The temperature ranges between 200 & 450. C. Proportional limits &
modulus of resilience is increased and elongation is reduced by age hardening of an
alloy.

Silver - Palladium alloys: -

These alloys are white & predominantly silver in composition but have
substantial amount of palladium. (Atleast 25%) that provides nobility & promotes the
silver tarnish resistance. The copper free Ag- Pd alloys may contain 70- 72 % silver &
2.5 % palladium. The major limitation of Ag- Pd alloys in general & the Ag - Pd - Cu in
particular is their greater potential for tarnish & corrosion.
 Because of increasing interest in aesthetics by dental pts, a decreased use of all
metal restorations has occurred during the past decade. The use of metal - ceramic
restorations in post sites - has increased relative to use of all metal crowns & inlays.
Ni - Cr & Co - Cr alloys and titanium & titanium alloys can be used for all metal &
metal ceramic restorations.

Aluminum - Bronze Alloy:-

Although bronze is traditionally defined as Copper - rich. (Cu - Sn) alloys with or
without other elements such as Zn & P, there exist essentially binary, ternary &
quaternary bronze alloys that contain no Tin. Such as Aluminum Bronze (Cu - Al), Si
Bronze (Cu - Si) Berilium bronze (Cu - Be). Al Bronze family of alloys may contain
between 81 & 88 Wt % Cu; 7 - 11% Wt % Al; 2- 4 Wt% Ni; 1- 4 wt% Fe. There is a
potential for Cu alloys to react with Sulfur to form Copper Sulfide, which may tarnish
the surface of this alloys in the same manner that silver sulfide darkens, the surface of
gold base or silver base alloys, that contain a significant Ag content.

High Noble Alloys for metal - Ceramic Restoration:-

The chief objection to the use of dental porcelain as a restorative material is its
low tensile shear strength. Although porcelain can resist compressive stresses &
reasonable success, substructure design does not permit shapes in which compressive
stress is the principal force. This can be minimized by bonding porcelain directly to a
cast alloy substructure made to fit the prepared tooth.

The original metal ceramic alloys contained 88% gold and were much too soft for
stress bearing restorations such as FPD's. Because there is no evidence of a chemical
bond - between these alloys & dental porcelain, mechanical retention & undercuts were
used to prevent detachment of ceramic veneer. By adding less than 1% of Oxide
forming elements such as Fe, In, Sn to these high gold content alloys, the porcelain
metal bond strength was improved by a factor of 3. Fe also increases the proportional
limit & strength of alloys. This 1% addition of base metals Au - Pd & Pt alloy was all
that was necessary to produce a slight Oxide film on the surface of substructure to
achieve a porcelain - metal bond strength level that surpassed the cohesive strength
porcelain itself. Gold based metal - ceramic alloys containing more than 40 wt % Au
atleast 60 Wt% of noble metals are generally classified as high noble alloys.

Au - Pt - Pd Alloys:-
Gold Content is upto 88% & varying amounts of Pd, Pt & small amounts of base
metals. These are yellow in color and susceptible to sag deformation, & FPD s should
be restricted to 3 - unit spans, anterior cantilevers or crowns.

Au - Pd - Ag Alloys:-
These contain between 39 % & 77% Au upto 35 % Pd & Ag levels are high as
22%. Silver increases thermal contraction coefficient, but it also has tendency to
discolor porcelains.

Au - Pd Alloys :-
Au content ranging from 44% to 55% Pd - 35 %. The lack of Ag results in a
decreased thermal contraction coefficient and the freedom from Ag discoloration of
porcelain. Alloys of this type must be used with porcelains that have low coefficients of
thermal contraction to avoid the development of axial of circumferential tensile stresses
in porcelain during the cooling part of the porcelain firing cycle.

Noble Alloys for metal ceramic restorations

Palladium based alloys;

Noble Pd based alloys offer a compromise between the high noble gold alloys
and base metal alloys. The price of Pd alloy is 1/3 that of a gold Alloy. The density is
mid - way between that of base metal & of high noble alloys. Pd based alloys after
moderate price compared with Au alloys, workability similar to Au & scrap value.

Pd- Ag Alloys:-
 Pd - Ag Alloys were introduced widely in late 1970's later their use has been
declined because of their tendency to greenish - yellow discoloration. Popularly termed
"greening”, is that the silver vapor escapes from the surface of these alloys during firing
of porcelain, diffuses as ionic silver into the porcelain, and is reduced to form colloidal
metallic silver in the surface layer of porcelain.

Other Pd alloys contain 75% - 90% Pd and no Ag and were developed to

eliminate the greening problem. Some of the high Pd alloys develop a layer of dark
Oxide on their surface during cooling from the degassing cycle, and this Oxide layer
has proven difficult to mask by the opaque porcelain. Because Pd is expensive than
Ag, the elimination of Ag and its replacement by Pd results in being more expensive
than Pd-Ag alloys.

The compositions of Pd - Ag alloys fall with in a narrow range; 53 - 61% Pd, 28 -

40 % Ag. Tin (or) Indium or both are usually added to increased alloy hardness and to
promote oxide formation for adequate bonding of porcelain. In some of these alloys the
formation of an internal oxide rather than an external oxide has been reported. Nodules
are formed on the external surface as a result of internal oxidation.

The greening effect of these alloys due to Ag is minimized by gold metal

conditioners or ceramic coating agents.
The low spf gravity of these alloys combined and their low intrinsic cost makes these
alloys attractive as economical alternatives to the gold based alloys. Adherence of
porcelain is considered to be acceptable for most of the Pd - Ag Alloys. Instead of
formation of desired external oxide, Pd - Ag nodules may develop on the surface that
effect retention of porcelain by mechanical rather than chemical bonding.

Pd- Cu - Alloys:-
This alloy type is comparable in cost to Pd - Ag alloys. Because this type of
alloys are recent introduction to dental market, little clinical information is available on
their long - term clinical success.
 Because of their low melting range of approximately 11700c to 11900c. These
alloys are expected to be susceptible to creep deformation at elevated firing
temperatures. These alloys contain 74 - 80% Pd and 9 - 15 % Cu. Porcelain
discoloration due to Cu is possible but does not appear to be a major problem. Some
of these alloys are somewhat technique sensitive with respect to casting, pre-soldering
and proper oxidation "Rx”. The Pd - Cu alloys have yield strengths of upto 1145
mpa elongation values of 5- 11 % and hardness values as high as some base metal
alloys. Thus these alloys would appear to have a poor potential for burnishing, except
when the marginal areas are relatively thin.

Pd- Cobalt Alloys:-

These are often advertised as gold free, Ni Free, Beryllium - free, & Ag Free
Alloys. The reference to Ni & Be indicated that these alloys as is true with other noble
metals are generally considered biocompatible. These alloys have a fine grain size to
minimize not tearing during solidification process. This Pd - Co group is the most sag
resistant of all noble metal alloys. The noble metal content (based on Pd) ranges from
78 - 88% .The content between - 4 & 10%. Some alloys may contain 8% Gallium.

Although these alloys are Ag free, discoloration of porcelain can still result
because of presence of cobalt. Failure of technician to completely mask out the dark
metal oxide color and opaque porcelain is a more common cause of unacceptable
aesthetic results. No metal coating agents are required to mask the oxide color (or) to
promote adherence to porcelain. Like the Pd - Ag & Pd - Cu alloys the Pd - Co alloys
generally tend to have a relatively high thermal contraction coefficient and would be
expected to be more compatible and higher expansion porcelains.

Pd - Ga - Ag and Pd- Ga - Ag - Au Alloys:-

These alloys are the most recent of noble metals. These alloys have a slightly lighter -
colored oxide than the Pd- Cu or Pd - Co alloys and they are thermally compatible and
lower expansion porcelains. The oxide that is required for bonding to porcelain is
relatively dark, but is somewhat lighter than those of Pd- Cu & Pd - Co alloys. The Ag
content is relatively low (5 - 8 Wt%) and is usually inadequate to cause porcelain
greening. Little information is available on metal - ceramic bond strength or thermal
compatibility. These Pd - Ga - Ag Alloys generally tend to have a relatively low thermal
contraction co-efficient & would be expected to more compatible and lower expansion
porcelains such as Vita porcelains.

Base metal Alloys for cast metal & metal ceramic Restoration:-

The use of base metal alloys has been increased recently due to high cost of gold
and other noble metals .

Most Ni - Cr alloys for crowns & FPDs contains 61 - 81% Ni, 11 - 27 % Cr and 2-
5% Mo. Chromium is essential to provide passivation and corrosion resistance, other
alloy formulation include Cr - Co and Fe - Cr. These alloys may also contain one or
more of the following elements. Al, Be, Bo, carbon, Co, Cu, Cerium, Gallium, Fe, Mn,
Niobium, Si, Sn, Ti & Zirconium.

The Co- Cr Alloys typically contain 53- 67% Co & 25 - 32% Cr & 2- 6 % Mo. Base
metal alloys melt at elevated temperatures, the use of Po4 or silica bonded
investments is indicated. Compensation for casting shrinkage required at these
elevated temperatures if a clinically acceptable fit is to be obtained. Recently
chemically pure Ti, & Ti- Al- V Alloys have been introduced for metal-ceramic
restorations.

Properties of base metal alloys

Compared to other alloys for metal ceramic restoration, base metal alloys generally
have higher hardness and elastic modulus (stiffness) values and are more sag
resistant at elevated temperatures, but they may be more difficult to cast and pre-
solder than Au - Pd or Pd - Ag Alloys. These alloys are more technique sensitive than
well - established noble metal alloys. The ability to obtain acceptable fitting base metal
castings represents a challenge to technicians and may require special procedure to
adequately compensate for their higher solidification shrinkage. Another potential
disadvantage of these alloys is their potential for porcelain adherent oxide layer from
the metal substrate. In addition relatively small differences in composition may produce
wide variations in metal ceramic bond strength.
Ni alloys without Beryllium demonstrate poorer castability than those that contain
upto 1.8 % Be. The creep resistance of nickel based alloys at firing temperatures is
considered to be far superior to the resistance of gold based and Pt based alloys under
the same conditions. The tarnish & corrosion resistance of base metal alloys containing
nickel is of principal concern because of allergic potential of Ni & Nickel compounds.

Studies have been conducted on the potential of galvanic corrosion induced by

base metal alloys with other metallic restorations. Amalgams are expected to sustain
less galvanic attack when they are placed in contact with Ni - Cr ( or ) Co- Cr alloys
than with gold alloys . When in contact to type III gold alloys, however the base metal
alloys are more susceptible to corrosive degradation.

In general the high hardness & high strength of base metal alloys contribute to
certain difficulties in clinical practice. Grinding & Polishing of fixed restoration to
achieve occlusion occasionally require more chairside time.

Handling Hazards & precautions :-

High concentrations of Be & Ni dust & Be Vapor are hazardous to laboratory
technicians. Although Be concentration in dental alloys rarely exceeds 2% the amount
of Be vapor released into the breathing space during melting of Ni - Cr- Be Alloys may
be significant over an extended period. The Occupational Health & Safety
Administration (OSHA) specified that exposure to Be dust in air should be limited to a
particulate Be Concentration of 2 Mg/ m 3 of air (both respirable & Non respirable
particles) determined from an 8 hr time-weighted coverage. The allowable ceiling
concentration is 5mg / m3. Exposure to Be may result in acute & chronic forms of Be
Decease. Physiologic responses vary from contact dermatitis to severe chemical
pneumonitis, which can be fatal.
 Of greater concern to dental patients is the intra-oral exposure to Ni especially
for pts with a known allergy to this elements. Inhalation ingestion and thermal contact
of Nickel or Nickel containing alloys are common, because Nickel is found in
environmental sources such as air, soil, and food as well as in synthetic objects such
as coins , kitchen utensils & jewelry. Females are 5 times more allergic to Nickel than
males. To minimize exposure of metallic dust to pts and dentists during metal grinding
operations; a high speed evacuation system should be employed when such
procedures are performed intra-orally. Patients should be informed of the potential
allergic effects of Nickel exposure and a thorough medical history should be taken to
determine if the pt is at risk of exhibiting an allergic reaction to nickel.

Commercially pure Titanium:-

The element Titanium is a light Wt metal with a density of 4.51 gm/ cm3
compared to a density of 7.6 8/ cm 3 for Ni - Cr . It has a relatively high melting
point of 16680 c and a thermal expansion coefficient of 8.4  106 / 0 c . This co
efficient is far below the values (12.7 - 14.2  10 6
/ 0c) for the porcelains that are
typically used for metal ceramic restoration. Thus a special low-fusing porcelain is
required to minimize the development of thermal tensile stresses in the porcelain
veneers. For general dental applications Titanium has the ability to passivate, i.e. to
change its surface from a chemically active state to much less reactive state by the
formation of an extremely thin Oxide layer, even when the surface is scratched or
abraded it can reform this protective Oxide layer instantaneously. For Rx of Pts with
known hypersensitivity to Ni; Pure Ti represents an excellent alternative to base metal
alloys that contain nickel.

Titanium Alloys :-
The most common alloy for dental & medical purposes is the Ti - Al 6 V4
composition. The main benefits of alloying are significant strengthening & stabilization
of the alloy against the formation of either the ALPHA phase (through Al addition) or
the B-phase through addition of Cu, Pd (or) Vanadium. The ALPHA phase alloys are
more resistant to high temperature creep, a most imp property for metal-ceramic
applications, but these alloys are more amendable to brazing (or) soldering. B alloys
 are less resistant to creep deformation at elevated temp, but they can be hardened &
strengthened significantly.

Conclusions: -

There have been major advances in the development of dental casting alloys
during past 20 years. Because of large Number & types of casting metals available for
use. One of the most complex challenges of dentists is the proper selection of casting
alloys for resin veneer bridges metal-ceramic restorations and all metal cast
restoration.

References :-

1. Philips Science of D M - 10th Edition.

2. CRAIG -Dental Materials - 8th edition

3. DCNA - Dental Materials

4. JPD - 1991 - 65 (1); 97