CAD-CAM assisted investment casting for preparation of dental crowns

Abstract

This paper highlights detailed procedure for preparation of dental crowns (DC) by CAD-CAM assisted investment casting (IC) as a case study. Along with biocompatibility and bioactivity required for DC, it must possess good surface finish (required for aesthetic sense), acceptable dimensional accuracy (required for assembly purposes) and good surface hardness (required while chewing). In this paper efforts were made for improving surface hardness, finish, and dimensional accuracy of DC by controlling composition/proportion of Ni and Cr in IC process. Further in this case study stir casting (SC) assisted Ni and Cr based metal matrix composites (MMC) has been prepared in investment mould. The result of study reveals that different material composition influenced the microstructure and the hardness of the MMC prepared. Further with change in weight percentage of Ni and Cr, different microstructures with particle clustering was observed. The results are also supported with 3D rendered images.