FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF SLM ADDITIVE MANUFACTURED ORTHODONTIC BRACKETS

With rising standards of living globally, restorative dentistry has gained popularity and increase the demand for high performance dental tools, such as dental bracket, implants. etc. However, conventional orthodontic bracket designs are constrained by the limitations of traditional manufacturing techniques, and often fail to optimize their designs, resulting in bulkier, less comfortable and efficient orthodontic appliances. This work explores the integration of topology optimization with additive manufacturing to design orthodontic brackets for enhanced performance and reduced mass. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted on 3D models of brackets made from five materials: Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3), Ferritic Stainless Steel, AISI 316L Stainless Steel, Titanium Alloy (Ti-6Al-4V), and Co-Cr Alloy. The brackets were subjected to a torque of 0.0294 N-m applied by a 0.483 mm x 0.483 mm archwire. The FEA results showed that only Ti-6Al-4V and Co-Cr alloys met the minimum safety factor requirement (>1), with safety factors of 1.85 and 1.89, respectively. Topology optimization was applied to minimize mass while maintaining a safety factor above 1.25. The optimized Ti-6Al-4V and Co-Cr brackets achieved a 46% mass reduction. Despite increased maximum stress and a slight decrease in safety factor, the optimized designs demonstrated the potential to withstand required torque levels with reduced material usage. Topology optimization was performed using the SIMP (Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization) method, with the objective of minimizing mass while maintaining a safety factor above 1.25.