Effects of Mo Content on Surface Characteristics of Dental Ni-Ti Alloys

Ni-Ti shape memory alloy for dental nerve treatment devices was prepared by adding Mo to Ni-Ti alloy to improve flexibility and fatigue fracture characteristics and simultaneously increase corrosion resistance. Surface properties of the alloy were evaluated. Microstructure analysis of the Ni-Ti-xMo alloy revealed that the amount of needle-like structure increased with increasing Mo content. The shape of the precipitate showed a pattern in which a long needle-like structure gradually disappeared and changed into a small spherical shape. As a result of XRD analysis of the Ni-Ti-xMo alloy, R-phase structure appeared as Mo was added. R-phase and B2 structure were mainly observed. As a result of DSC analysis, phase transformation of the Ti-Ni-Mo alloy showed a two-step phase change of B2-R-B19' transformation with two exothermic peaks and one endothermic peak. As Mo content increased, R-phase formation temperature gradually decreased. As a result of measuring surface hard-ness of the Ti-Ni-Mo alloy, change in hardness value due to the phase change tended to decrease with increasing Mo content. As a result of the corrosion test, the corrosion potential and pitting potential increased while the cur-rent density tended to decrease with increasing Mo content.