Monitoring Techniques of Cerium Stabilized Zirconia for Medical Prosthesis

Adriana Savin,Mihail-Liviu Craus,Pierre-Antoine Dubos,Vitalii Turchenko,Alina Bruma,Sylvie Malo,Valerii Burkhovetsky,Tatiana Konstantinova

doi:10.3390/app5041665

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the improvement of Zr-based ceramics properties as a function of addition of Ce ions in the structure of the original ceramics. The structural investigations proposed in this paper cover X-ray, and neutron diffraction offered the first indication of the variation of the phase composition and the structural parameters, micro-hardness measurements as well as non-destructive evaluations in order to analyze the structural properties of these materials with utmost importance in fields such as medicine, where these composite materials are used in hip-implants or dental implants/coatings. In combination of Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy, which makes use of the resonance frequencies corresponding to the normal vibrational modes of a solid in order to evaluate the elastic constants of the materials, we emphasize a unique approach on evaluating the physical properties of these ceramics, which could help in advancing the understanding of properties and applications in medical fields.

Highlights

Recent developments in advanced dental materials [1,2], solid-oxide fuel-cell design to oxygen detection [3], nuclear waste confinement [4], optics [5], medical prosthesis [6,7], and catalytic [8]technologies have drawn attention towards the remarkable structural properties of zirconia (ZrO2)-based ceramics
We investigated the structure of these ceramics and the phase stabilization using X-ray and neutron diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) as well as microstructure characterization methods, including micro-hardness measurements
The experimental results obtained from X-ray and neutron data emphasize that the Zr1-xCexO2 (x = 0–0.17) samples do not have a homogeneous structure

Summary

Introduction

Recent developments in advanced dental materials [1,2], solid-oxide fuel-cell design to oxygen detection [3], nuclear waste confinement [4], optics [5], medical prosthesis [6,7], and catalytic [8]technologies have drawn attention towards the remarkable structural properties of zirconia (ZrO2)-based ceramics. 1170 °C; the tetragonal phase, P42/nmc stable in the temperature range between 1170 and 2370 °C; and the cubic, Fm-3m phase, appearing at a temperature above 2370 °C [10] These ceramics have mechanical properties, promoting them to special applications. As grinding or impact, transition from the tetragonal (t) to monoclinic (m) phase can appear at normal temperatures, being followed by an increase of volume of at least 4%, causing compressive stress. Ceria (Ce2O3) or yttria (Y2O3) are used to stabilize these ceramics at room temperature and allowing t → m transformation to prevent crack propagation

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