Flexibility and hardness of dental stainless steel wrought wires used in Thailand.

Stainless steel wrought wires used as clasp arms for removable partial dentures in Thailand were compared with those used in some other countries (in the as-received condition) in terms of flexibility, Vickers microhardness and composition. The results showed that there were significant differences (P< or =0.05) among the wires. A Japanese stainless steel wire (SK) was obviously different from the others. It had the lowest proportional limit and microhardness, but its flexibility was almost the same. The chemical composition of each wire was not greatly different. The wires were about 18-20 wt% chromium and 8-9 wt% nickel, except for the SK wire, which had about 12 wt% nickel.