Ultra Low Nickel Stainless Steel (also referred to as "nickel-free") A product that is sensitive to the needs of your patient Acme Monaco supplies a wide variety of shapes and sizes in our new Ultra Low Nickel stainless steel product line. Material sizes are available from .012" through .021" X .025". We supply the archwires with a midline mark to ensure proper placement in the patient's mouth. Composition These archwires are produced from a material which is essentially a nickel free austenitic stainless steel alloy.
Clinical Advantages Our Ultra Low Nickel stainless steel archwires are an excellent choice for patients that are "nickel sensitive", as well as an alternative replacement for standard stainless steel archwires, if nickel reactions in future patients may be a concern. By choosing our Ultra Low Nickel stainless steel archwires, you can provide a nickel-free archwire for a fraction of the cost of Ultra Low Nickel Beta Titanium archwires currently being sold. Due to the chemistry of this material alloy, the Ultra Low Nickel stainless provides all the benefits of our standard stainless steel product line (tensile, fatigue strength, corrosion resistance) as well as superior compatibility when used in products such as our archwires that contact the human body. This material is currently used in other high tech medical products such as bone plates, bone screws, hip and knee components where implantation and compatibility with the human body are a serious issue. All our wire is tested for brittleness using a special bend block fixture that was developed in conjunction with a major orthodontic company and University. We are the only archwire manufacturing company to subject archwires to this rigorous test. All our wire is tested for tensile strength, both before and after archwire manufacturing. Tight tensile specifications are adhered to. This is especially critical for gold tone archwires that have a tendency to go beyond a specific tensile range after heat treating, causing a much stiffer or more brittle wire than the orthodontist desires. Our square and rectangular wire is shaped to its specific cross-section by our own in-house wire shaping department giving us added control of our processes. No other companies have this ability. They must rely on other companies for their wire. All of our wire is measured on a continuous basis by using laser-measuring equipment. This type of measuring device insures that all the wire is meeting our strict thickness specifications. Not all manufacturers utilize this method of quality control. Finish is an area that Acme Monaco archwires really excel in. Cosmetics is extremely important for an archwire, and we ensure that we start with only the highest quality raw material that will provide the customer with a bright shiny archwire finish. Our manufacturing process controls as well as our high tech "state-of-the-art" certified in-house cleaning facility, will always ensure that a clean high luster finish will be provided. |
