A study of the abrasive resistance of metal alloys with applications in dental prosthetic fixators.

Wear is one of the main surface failure mechanisms in materials and it will play a leading role in substitutive dental biomaterials. The aim of the present study is to compare the abrasive wear of different metallic materials used in dental applications. The results show that the abrasive wear of alloys based on precious metals such as Pt, Pd, Au and Ag is higher than for Ti and Ti based alloys. The alloy with the highest wear resistance is the Co-Cr which exhibits as well the highest hardness and Young's modulus. Since the method corresponds to a well-established abrasive wear standard, the behaviour of the different materials can be easily compared.