Cyclic Contact Fatigue of Dental Porcelain

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The residual strength of dental porcelain discs were test after cycling fatigue compressive load in this study. Moreover, the effects of stress intensity and cycle frequency to the damage of porcelain were explored. The porcelain specimens were bonded to the epoxy resin blocks, with 12.5mm height. The cycling fatigue contact loads were subjected on the porcelain surfaces of the bi-layer composites with silicon nitride spheres of radius 2.5mm. The crosshead speed was 6mm/min. The top load value was varied from 10N-20N in every load cycles. The cycling number was from 50-300. After cycling test, the residual strength of all porcelain samples was measured by bi-axial bending test. Fractured pieces of the specimens were collected and examined with optical microscope and SEM. On the fracture surfaces of porcelain discs after bi-axial bending test, Hertz cone cracks were presented due to cycling fatigue load. The result showed that the residual strength of dental porcelain had negative correlation with the fatigue load values and cycles. When the fatigue load cycles were lower than 100, the residual strength of porcelain presented no significant different under 10 or 20N fatigue load. In contrary, when the fatigue load cycles were over 100, the residual strength of porcelain was much lower under 20N fatigue load than 10N fatigue load. Based on the limited results of this study, the conclusion could be drawn that the residual strength of porcelain under fatigue compressive stress was main determined by load cycles in the range of small load values. The porcelain could be destroyed after very few cycles if the load is up to a critical value.