ABSTRACT
Titanium powder production by the hydride-dehydride method has been developed as a non-expensive process. In this work, commercially pure grade two Ti specimens were hydrogenated. The hydrided material was milled in a planetary mill. The hydrided titanium powder was dehydrided and then sieved to obtain a particle size between 37 and 125 microm in order to compare it with a commercial powder produced by chemical reduction with a particle size lower than 150 microm. Cylindrical green compacts were obtained by uniaxial pressing of the powders at 343 MPa and sintering in vacuum. The powders and the density of sintered compacts were characterized, the oxygen content was measured and in vivo tests were performed in the tibia bones of Wistar rats in order to evaluate their biocompatibility. No differences were observed between the materials which were produced either with powders obtained by the hydride-dehydride method or with commercial powders produced by chemical reduction regarding modifications in compactation, sintering and biological behaviour.
Subject(s)
Biocompatible Materials/chemistry , Biocompatible Materials/pharmacology , Tibia/cytology , Tibia/drug effects , Titanium/chemistry , Titanium/pharmacology , Animals , Crystallization/methods , Male , Materials Testing , Particle Size , Powders , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Surface PropertiesABSTRACT
Most commercial dental porcelains designed for ceramo-metallic restorations are partially crystallized feldspathic glasses (glass-ceramics) that consist of low (tetragonal) leucite (K2O.Al2O3.4SiO2) crystals embedded in a glassy matrix. In this work, we have identified the crystalline phases in eight commercial dental porcelains (four enamels and four dentin bodies) in both powder (unfired) and sintered forms, by x-ray diffraction, emission spectroscopy analysis, reflection optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Besides low leucite and glass, we have found a second crystalline phase in the sintered and slow-cooled porcelains that we propose to be potash feldspar (K2O.Al2O3.6SiO2). It was impossible to ascertain whether these synthetic crystals may be sanidine, orthoclase, or microcline. The precipitation of feldspar during cooling is explained in terms of the crystallization behavior of typical body compositions in the ternary-phase diagram K2O-Al2O3-SiO2. Ceramography confirms the martensitic (displacive) nature of the transformation from high (cubic) to low (tetragonal) leucite upon cooling.
