Interdental brush having an oval wire cross section, and method for producing the same

Abstract

The present invention relates to an interdental brush ( 1, 1 ′) having a brush part ( 2 ) comprising two twisted-together legs ( 4 A, 4 B) of a wire section ( 4 ) and brush filaments ( 5 ) held clamped between the legs ( 4 A, 4 B), and to a method for producing such an interdental brush ( 1, 1 ′). In order to improve in particular the bending fatigue strength of the wire section ( 4 ), it is provided according to the invention that a wire section ( 4 ) made of an austenitic steel is used which has a chromium content of 15 to 17 wt. %, a manganese content of 12 to 16 wt. % and a molybdenum content of 0 to 4 wt. %, and that the wire section ( 4 ) is formed with an oval cross-section having an ovality O in a range between 0.4 to 0.9, wherein the ovality O is dimensioned as a ratio between a length (LQk) of a small transverse axis (Qk) to a length (LQg) of a large transverse axis (Qg) of the cross-section.

I claim: 
     
         1 - 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . An interdental brush with a brush part comprising
 two twisted-together legs of a wire section and brush filaments held clamped between the legs whereby   the wire section is made of an austenitic steel having a chromium content of 15 to 17 wt. %, a manganese content of 12 to 16 wt. %, a molybdenum content of 0 to 4 wt. %, and   comprises an oval cross-section having an ovality in a range between 0.4 to 0.9, wherein the ovality is dimensioned as a ratio between a length of a small transverse axis to a length of a large transverse axis of the cross-section, and   a wire of the wire section comprises an elliptical origin cross-section, wherein a ratio of a length of a major semi-axis of the ellipse to a length of a minor semi-axis of the ellipse is between 1.4 and 1.6.   
     
     
         14 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby the twisted legs comprise turns having a turn length, measured parallel to a longitudinal axis of the brush, which is smaller than 1.5 times a maximum outer diameter of the wire section. 
     
     
         15 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby a depth of the turns measured as a difference between the maximum outer diameter and a minimum inner diameter is smaller than 0.05 to 0.2 times the maximum outer diameter. 
     
     
         16 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , wherein the ratio of the length of the major semi-axis of the ellipse to the length of the minor semi-axis of the ellipse is between 1.5 and 1.55. 
     
     
         17 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby a number of brush filaments per turn is greater than 10. 
     
     
         18 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby a useful length of the brush filaments measured transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush between an outer contour of the twisted wire section and a free end of the brush filaments is between 3.8 and 16 times the maximum outer diameter. 
     
     
         19 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby a ratio between the maximum outer diameter and/or a maximum wire diameter of the wire and a maximum filament diameter of the brush filaments is between 4 and 4.6. 
     
     
         20 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby a free brush end comprises a rounding and a maximum rounding diameter of the rounding is larger than the maximum outer diameter. 
     
     
         21 . The interdental brush according to  claim 13 , whereby the austenitic steel comprises a nitrogen content of 0.5 wt. %, a silicon content of 0.25 wt. %, a carbon content of 0.11 wt. % and a nickel content of less than 0.05 wt. %. 
     
     
         22 . A method for producing an interdental brush, comprising for producing a brush part of the interdental brush two legs of a wire section are twisted together and brush filaments held between the legs are clamped,
 whereby   the wire section made of an austenitic steel comprising a chromium content of 15 to 17 wt. %, a manganese content of 12 to 16 wt. % and a molybdenum content of 0 to 4 wt. % is used, and   the wire section is formed with an oval cross section having an ovality in a range between 0.4 to 0.9, the ovality being dimensioned as a ratio between a length of a small transverse axis to a length of a large transverse axis of the cross section.   
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 22 , whereby the brush part is stretched along the longitudinal axis of the brush after twisting.