[Development of dental quick casting with zircon-phosphoric acid investments].

The application of zircon (ZrSiO4) that has high refractoriness, high thermal conductivity and a low coefficient of thermal expansion, to quick casting investment was studied. Various zircon powders and phosphoric acid solutions were tested with respect to the higher thermal shock resistance. The formulation and properties of zircon-phosphoric acid investment materials such as water/powder ratio, fluidity of slurry, setting time, setting expansion, thermal expansion, thermal analysis, green and fired compressive strength were measured. Formulation of zircon slurry for coating was zircon flower #600 30%, zircon flower #350 10%, and zircon sand CP 60%, and that for sanding was zircon flower #200. The mixing liquid was 15% phosphoric acid and liquid/powder ratio was 0.1. The slurry using phosphoric acid had good fluidity and good workability. The 24-hour green strength was 1 MPa, fired strength was 10 MPa, 24-hour setting expansion was -0.04% and the thermal expansion at 1000 degrees C was 0.31%. Immediately after coating with zircon slurry, the coating layer was dried, sintered and dewaxed by thermal shock. The thermal shock consisted of the following four-step manipulations. The first is hot air drying (50 degrees C, 5 minutes), the second is heat shock (900 degrees C, 3 seconds), the third is redrying (220 degrees C, 3 minutes) and the fourth is dewaxing (550 degrees C, 3 minutes). Small casting of pure titanium and K-metal could be done successfully by the quick casting method using the zircon-phosphoric acid investments. It was found that the total expansion of the secondary investments influenced the casting adapatability.