RESUMO
A study is made of relationships between composition, processing, structure and properties of biphasic zirconia bioceramics. The focus is on zirconia compositions with different yttria dopant contents used in modern dental restorations, namely 3 - 5 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (3YSZ, 4YSZ, and 5YSZ). Crystallographies and densities are surveyed, sintering conditions examined, and microstructures characterized. Strength and optical tests are conducted on each YSZ, and dependencies on sintering temperature, cubic content and grain size analyzed. Strength correlates with the amount of tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO2) crystals with large lattice distortions (tetragonality). YSZ translucency correlates with content of cubic zirconia (c-ZrO2) and t-ZrO2 with low levels of tetragonality. Consistent with literature reporting, the materials rank in decreasing order 3YSZ, 4YSZ to 5YSZ for strength but increasing order for translucency. However, for a given composition, the data suggest that the strengths of densely sintered 3YSZ and 4YSZ actually increase with translucency, although that of 5YSZ remains undiminished. These trends are in apparent contradiction to prevailing experience, and offer potential future processing routes to optimization of clinical materials.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the composition, microstructure and wear properties of a multilayer translucent zirconia relative to the conventional 3Y-TZP. METHODS: Two types of ceramics were evaluated: a multilayer zirconia (MULTI, IPS e.max ZirCAD Multi, Ivoclar Vivadent) and a control 3Y-TZP (IPS e.max ZirCAD LT, Ivoclar Vivadent). Pre-sintered CAD-CAM blocks were cut, ground, sintered and polished to 1 µm finish. The phase fraction and grain size were measured using XRD and FE-SEM. For wear testing (n = 12), square-shaped specimens (16 × 16 × 1 mm) were adhesively bonded to a dentin analog. Sliding wear tests were performed using a spherical zirconia antagonist (r = 3.15 mm), with 30 N load at 1.5 Hz for 500,000 cycles in water. Optical and scanning electron microscopes and 3D laser scanner were used for quantitative wear analyses. Data were analyzed using Student's t-test (α = 0.05). RESULTS: For MULTI, the enamel layer had the highest cubic content and the largest grain size, followed by the two transition layers, and the dentin layer. 3Y-TZP showed the smallest grain size and cubic content. A significant amount of wear was observed in both materials up to 50,000 cycles until it reached a plateau. MULTI showed higher volume loss and greater wear depth than 3Y-TZP (p < 0.01). The higher volume loss was associated with extensive lateral fracture, leading to material spalling from the surface of cubic-containing zirconias. SIGNIFICANCE: The wear pattern in multi-layered zirconia was more severe than 3Y-TZP. Additionally, the different layers of the multi-layered zirconia had similar wear behavior.
