Reliability of Pd based dental alloys regarding to corrosion resistance and production processes.

The knowledge of the relationship among chemical composition, microstructure, productive processes, functional properties, quality and price of the final product is an ever greater requirement for the firms producing dental alloys as well as for the dental laboratories making prosthesis. The present study deals with the evaluation of the corrosion resistance of high-Pd and Pd-Ag alloys by quantification of released ions following the recent European regulations suggested. Moreover the reliability of the alloys as far as concern their corrosion resistance was also investigated in relation to the different steps of alloy industrial production and restoration forming processes as well as after homogenization treatments followed by different cooling rate. The very complex microstructure of both alloys was greatly affected by the different casting conditions, deformation rate and thermal treatments used in alloy industrial production and prosthesis manufacturing. However the corrosion resistance of both alloys remained very good in all metallurgical states. The potentiodynamic tests allowed to distinguish among the structural conditions: the homogenization treatments, eliminating segregation inside the different phases, improved further the corrosion resistance of both alloys. Copyright 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers