Study of the strain gage signals for the control of a micro torque meter

Abstract

The controls of the stresses on the bone-implant and implant-abutment interfaces are crucial for the performance of an implant. Dental implants are a class in itself due to its size, chemical and biological environment. This paper presents a study on the electric signals from a strain gage used in a custom-made laboratory micro torque meter specially developed to evaluate the influence of the bone-implant and implant-abutment screwed interfaces on the micro torque signals. The original electric signals were acquired via National Instruments (NI) hardware and real time processed with the Labview® software for the evaluation of noise and its relation to the physical values of interest and equipment precision. The results indicate the need of careful attention to the noise pickup, noise source controls and mechanical amplification of the original signal in order to obtain higher accuracy of the equipment and automated control on the equipment.