Mechanical properties of titanium-zirconium binary alloys were investigated in order to reveal their possible use for new biomedical materials and to collect useful data for alloy design through a hardness test, a tensile test, and optical microscopy. The hardness of the alloy containing 50% zirconium was approximately 2.5 times as large as the hardness of pure titanium and pure zirconium. Tensile tests showed a similar tendency. No changes between hardness of as cast specimens and as homogenized specimens were observed, nor were changes in microstructures noted. Comparisons between the Ti-6Al-4V alloy and the Ti-Zr-6Al-4V alloy indicated that a titanium-zirconium alloy could provide a base material for a new biomedical alloy. From these results, it was concluded that new alloys for biomedical materials should be designed as titanium-zirconium base alloys.

The functional properties of nickel-titanium endodontic instruments, especially their flexible bending load level, were closely related to the transformation behaviour of the alloys.

Change in the transformation behaviour by heat treatment may be effective in increasing the flexibility of nickel-titanium endodontic instruments.

This study indicates that the Er:YAG laser can be a novel technical modality for the debridement of implant abutment surface.

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Additional heat treatment of hybrid nickel-titanium instruments may be effective in increasing the flexibility of nickel-titanium rotary instruments.

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