Zhenzhen Zhang1, Jiawen Guo1, Yali Sun2, Beimin Tian3, Xiaojuan Zheng1, Ming Zhou1, Lin He4, Shaofeng Zhang5. 1. State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Changle Xi Road 145, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. 2. Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. 3. State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Periodontology, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Changle Xi Road 145, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. 4. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China. Electronic address: helin@mail.xjtu.edu.cn. 5. State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Changle Xi Road 145, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: sfzhang1963.fmmu@gmail.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to improve wear resistance and mechanical properties of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics by refining their crystal sizes. METHODS: After lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (LD) were melted to form precursory glass blocks, bar (N = 40, n = 10) and plate (N = 32, n = 8) specimens were prepared. According to the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of precursory glass, specimens G1-G4 were designed to form lithium disilicate glass-ceramics with different crystal sizes using a two-step thermal treatment. In the meantime, heat-pressed lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (GC-P) and original ingots (GC-O) were used as control groups. Glass-ceramics were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and were tested using flexural strength test, nanoindentation test and toughness measurements. The plate specimens were dynamically loaded in a chewing simulator with 350 N up to 2.4 × 106 loading cycles. The wear analysis of glass-ceramics was performed using a 3D profilometer after every 300,000 wear cycles. Wear morphologies and microstructures were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Multiple pairwise comparisons of means were performed by Tukey's post-hoc test. RESULTS: Materials with different crystal sizes (p < 0.05) exhibited different properties. Specifically, G3 with medium-sized crystals presented the highest flexural strength, hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness. G1 and G2 with small-sized crystals showed lower flexural strength, whereas G4, GC-P, and GC-O with large-sized crystals exhibited lower hardness and elastic modulus. The wear behaviors of all six groups showed running-in wear stage and steady wear stage. G3 showed the best wear resistance while GC-P and GC-O exhibited the highest wear volume loss. CONCLUSIONS: After crystal refining, lithium disilicate glass-ceramic with medium-sized crystals showed the highest wear resistance and mechanical properties.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to improve wear resistance and mechanical properties of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics by refining their crystal sizes. METHODS: After lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (LD) were melted to form precursory glass blocks, bar (N = 40, n = 10) and plate (N = 32, n = 8) specimens were prepared. According to the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of precursory glass, specimens G1-G4 were designed to form lithium disilicate glass-ceramics with different crystal sizes using a two-step thermal treatment. In the meantime, heat-pressed lithium disilicate glass-ceramics (GC-P) and original ingots (GC-O) were used as control groups. Glass-ceramics were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and were tested using flexural strength test, nanoindentation test and toughness measurements. The plate specimens were dynamically loaded in a chewing simulator with 350 N up to 2.4 × 106 loading cycles. The wear analysis of glass-ceramics was performed using a 3D profilometer after every 300,000 wear cycles. Wear morphologies and microstructures were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Multiple pairwise comparisons of means were performed by Tukey's post-hoc test. RESULTS: Materials with different crystal sizes (p < 0.05) exhibited different properties. Specifically, G3 with medium-sized crystals presented the highest flexural strength, hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness. G1 and G2 with small-sized crystals showed lower flexural strength, whereas G4, GC-P, and GC-O with large-sized crystals exhibited lower hardness and elastic modulus. The wear behaviors of all six groups showed running-in wear stage and steady wear stage. G3 showed the best wear resistance while GC-P and GC-O exhibited the highest wear volume loss. CONCLUSIONS: After crystal refining, lithium disilicate glass-ceramic with medium-sized crystals showed the highest wear resistance and mechanical properties.