Evaluation of mechanical properties of recasted dental base metal alloys for considering their reusability in dentistry and engineering field

Background: Base metal casting alloys are extensively used in dentistry to fabricate many oral appliances and a huge amount is wasted in the form of sprues and buttons during the casting procedure. Recycling and reusing these alloys by clean technologies may save our natural resources from being depleted and as well reduce the cost of the treatment of the patients. Objectives: To study the mechanical properties of recasted dental base metal alloys, and explore possible ways to recycle and reuse in dentistry and other fields of science and technology. Materials and Methods: Two beryllium-free Cobalt-Chromium (Co-Cr) dental casting alloys, Wironit and Wirobond-C, were used for this study. Six groups of specimen (melted once, twice, five, ten, fifteen and twenty times) per each alloy were casted. The tensile strength and hardness of these samples were measured by using universal testing machine and Vickers hardness number (VHN) tester. Results: Tensile strength decreased from 850 MPa to 777 MPa after 5 th recasting and to 674 MPa at the end of 20 th recasting procedure for the Wironit samples. For Wirobond-C samples, tensile strength decreased from 720 MPa to 678 MPa after 5 th recasting and further reduced to 534 MPa at the end of 20 th recasting procedure. Hardness decreased from 380VHN to 335VHN at the end of 20 th recasting for Wironit samples and 328VHN to 247VHN for Wirobond-C samples after 20 th recasting procedure. The slight decrease in their mechanical properties will not have any impact on the clinical performance for dental applications. Conclusion: There is no major degradation in the mechanical properties after recycling, and hence, the left over alloys after casting procedures can be reused in dentistry with a condition to satisfy cytotoxicity tests