Cortical screws are submitted to torsional forces during its insertion and removal. Therefore, one of the purposes of this research was to evaluate the mechanical behavior of stainless steel cortical screws submitted to manual torsion test and automated torsion test. The secondary objective was to analyze the fracture area with a scanning electron microscope. Ten cortical stainless steel screws have been used. Five screws were submitted to the manual torsion test and five screws were tested on a torsion machine. Their properties were calculated and the fracture area was analyzed. The manual torsion test has shown to be inaccurate for the calculation of mechanical properties. Therefore, it is contraindicated for identifying the mechanical behavior of cortical stainless steel screws. The automated torsion test showed a more rigid methodology and therefore more reliable results. Screws fractures, both on manual and automated torsion assays, presented no different patterns.
Torsion; Bone screws; Materials testing; Bone plates; Stainless Steel
