Effect of Pressure and Particle Size During Aluminum Oxide Air Abrasion on the Flexural Strength of Disperse-Filled Composite and Polymer-Infiltrated Ceramic Network Materials.

Jong-Eun Kim,You-Jung Kang,Jee-Hwan Kim,June-Sung Shim,Jung-Hwa Lim

doi:10.3390/polym12061396

Abstract

Esthetic dental computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) polymers such as disperse-filled composites (DFC) and polymer-infiltrated ceramic networks (PICN) should be subjected to surface treatment before bonding. However, such treatment can lead to defect formation and a decrease in strength. Therefore, in this study, we compared the flexural strengths of DFC and PICN materials air-abraded with alumina particles of different sizes at different pressures. In addition to Weibull analysis, the samples (untreated and treated) were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Both DFC and PICN exhibited the lowest flexural strength at large particle sizes and high pressures. Therefore, we optimized the air abrasion parameters to maintain the flexural strength and significantly increase surface roughness. In the case of DFC, the optimal particle size and pressure conditions were 50 µm at 2 bar and 110 µm at 1 bar, while for PICN, the best performance was obtained using Al2O3 particles with a size of 50 µm at 1 bar. This study reveals that optimization of the surface treatment process is crucial in the fabrication of high-performance clinical materials for dental restorations.

Highlights

Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) materials for esthetic restoration that can mimic human tooth color, such as zirconia and glass ceramics, are widely used.Such materials typically require a sintering process that is time-consuming and, in the case of zirconia, results in volume changes [1,2]
We evaluated the effect of air abrasion surface treatment in terms of the flexural strength of disperse-filled composites (DFC)
Two-way ANOVA of polymer-infiltrated ceramic networks (PICN) specimens showed that alumina particle size (p < 0.001) and abrasion pressure (p < 0.001) significantly affected their flexural strength

Summary

Introduction

Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) materials for esthetic restoration that can mimic human tooth color, such as zirconia and glass ceramics, are widely used. Such materials typically require a sintering process that is time-consuming and, in the case of zirconia, results in volume changes [1,2]. Disperse-filled composites (DFC) and polymer-infiltrated ceramic networks (PICN), which can be differentiated based on their manufacturing method, have attracted considerable interest [3] The former includes a polymer base mixed with fillers such as zirconia, barium, and silica and is polymerized under standardized industrial conditions, while the latter is produced by infiltration of a polymer into a porous ceramic network [3,4,5,6]. DFC and PICN exhibit improved mechanical properties as they are polymerized at high temperatures and pressures, which makes the entire product homogeneous with a high degree of polymerization [3]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion