Properties of nanostructured 3Y-TZP blocks used for CAD/CAM dental restoration

Author(s)

dos Santos, Claudinei ; Santos, Felipe Antunes ; Elias, Carlos Nelson ; Prado, M ; Zavaglia, C

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Key Engineering Materials; v. 396-398, p. 4-pg., 2009-01-01.

Abstract

Several CAD/CAM systems are available to dental prosthesis laboratories which can be used to fabricate all-ceramic copings and frameworks. The use of these systems presents low demand, due principally the high blocks ceramics cost used for theses systems. Usually, these ceramic blocks are sintered at high temperatures, between 1450 and 1550 degrees C, resulting in micrometric ZrO2 microstructure. A considerable innovation in these ceramics systems used in CAD/CAM applications was introduced by the use of nano Metric-tetragonal ZrO2 blocks, which are sintered at low sintering temperatures resulting in nanometric grains morphology and improved mechanical properties. The put-pose of the present work is to characterize the mechanical properties of nanoparticled zirconium oxide blocks comparing with commercial micrometric ceramic parts. XRD patterns showed that the blocks have only the tetragonal-ZrO2 as crystalline phase. The tetragonal-monoclinic transformation phase was responsible for the excellent mechanical properties. Nanometric blocks presented hardness of 13GPa, fracture toughness of 11MPam(1/2), bending strength of 1020MPa and Weibull modulus, m=14, while micrometric ZrO2 blocks similar hardness, fracture toughness 8.5MPam(1/2), bending strength of 850MPa and Weibull modulus of 10. (AU)