SEDL / STP / STP684-EB / STP35950S

Application of Electrochemical Techniques to Characterize the Corrosion of Dental Alloys

Sarkar, NK
Assistant professor, School of Dentistry, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, La

Fuys, RA
Director and secretary, American Dental Association, Chicago, Ill

Stanford, JW
Director and secretary, American Dental Association, Chicago, Ill

Pages: 18    Published: Oct 1979

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Abstract

Electrochemical techniques involving potentiostatic and potentiodynamic (hysteresis) polarization have been employed to evaluate the corrosion resistance of dental amalgams and dental casting alloys in a 1.0 percent sodium chloride solution, Unlike conventional dental amalgams, where corrosion is associated mainly with the presence of the tin-mercury (γ2) phase, the corrosion of γ2-free dental amalgams results from the presence of silver-copper eutectic or copper-tin or both. The corrosion of silver-base and gold-base dental casting alloys stems from the presence of silver-rich microsegregations with a possible minor contribution from a copper-rich phase. These results agree with the results obtained from long-term laboratory and clinical studies and thus demonstrate the usefulness of relatively quick, convenient electrochemical techniques in the evaluation of the corrosion resistance of dental alloys.