[High temperature reactivity between titanium and refractory oxides in dental casting procedure. Fundamental study on refractoriness of investments and ceramo-metal bonding by analytical SEM and oxide single crystals].

The reactivity of various refractory oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, MgO, CaO, ZrO2) with molten titanium was investigated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), using single crystals of oxide as specimen. The region of the reaction boundary between titanium and single crystal oxide was observed by electron microscopy (SEM). Elemental analysis across the Ti/oxide boundary was done by EDS and the reaction layer thickness was quantitatively determined. Of these refractory oxides, SiO2 is the most reactive with titanium followed by Al2O3. The 250 microns thick Si-rich region and 100 microns thick Al-rich region were formed respectively in Ti around the remnant oxides. The diffusion of Si as a result of reaction is greater than that of Al. MgO, CaO, ZrO2 show very little reaction with Ti and the reaction layer thickness was below the spatial resolution of EDS (approximately 1 micron). The thickness and composition of the reaction layer and reactivity were determined. These results were in good agreement with those obtained by ESCA.