Surface micromorphology of dental composites [CE-TZP]-[Al2O3] with Ca(+2) modifier.

The objective of this study was to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) surface micromorphology of the ceramics produced from nanoparticles of alumina and tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO2) with addition of Ca(+2) for sintering improvement. The 3D surface roughness of samples was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), fractal analysis of the 3D AFM-images, and statistical analysis of surface roughness parameters. Cube counting method, based on the linear interpolation type, applied for AFM data was used for fractal analysis. The morphology of non-modified ceramic sample was characterized by the rather big (1-2 μm) grains of α-Al2O3 phase with a habit close to hexagonal drowned in solid solution of t-ZrO2 with smooth surface. The pattern surfaces of modified composite content a little amount of elongated prismatic grains with composition close to the phase of СаСеAl3О7 as well as hexahedral α-Al2O3-grains. Fractal dimension, D, as well as height values distribution have been determined for the surfaces of the samples with and without modifying. It can be concluded that the smoothest surface is of the modified samples with Ca(+2) modifier but the most regular one is of the non-modified samples. A connection was observed between the surface morphology and the physical properties as assessed in previous works.