A Microstructural and Fractographic Study on the Failure of Surgical Torch Meters

As in the case of implants, the increase of the life expectancy and of the risk of accidents, thus causing a higher incidence of surgeries, has led to an increased use of surgical instruments. The reliability of these instruments, used in applications of considerable responsibility, depends on the characteristics of the materials, as well as on the conditions of manufacture. Using some techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and hardness tests, this work has as purpose the identification of the possible causes of failure of surgical torch meters used for dental implants fixation, trying to correlate with the microstructural characteristics of the austenitic and martensitic stainless steels used in their manufacture. The results thus obtained allowed the identification of the main causes of the failure, primarily related to microstructural heterogeneities which resulted from inadequate heat treatment and with the presence of non-metallic inclusions, which favored brittle fracture and corrosion.