Ceramics and Zirconia Flashcards
What are the applications for ceramics?
-All-ceramic crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, FPDs
-Metal-ceramic crowns and FPDs
-Implant abutments (and implants)
-Denture teeth
-Ceramic orthodontic bracket
What is the “best” part of ceramic?
HIGH esthetic capabiliies
What are the benefits of ceramics?
-Enhanced esthetics due to the absence of metal and improved light transmission
-Looks like a tooth!
-Most beneficial for teeth with normally colored dentin as the dentin color can affect restoration through the ceramic
- Physiologic gingival response when properly contoured and highly glazed/polished.
Why and How does ceramic look so much like a real tooth?
-Color Replication
—Ceramics can be tinted/colored to produce nearly any tooth shade
-Refraction
—Ceramics reflect and absorb light rays simulating enamel
- Translucency
—Type of porcelain (incisal/ dentin/ opaque)
What are the important properties of ceramics?
- flexural strength (brittle)
- fracture toughness (low; crack easy)
- ceramics shrink as they are fired
- ceramics are good thermal insulators
What is flexural strength?
-Defined as the strength of a material in bending
-Flexural strength is the point when stress on the outermost fibers of bending cause test specimen to fail
What does flexural movements do to ceramics?
cause them to fracture because they have low flexural strength
What is fracture toughness?
-Defined as the resistance to fracture when a crack is present
What is the fracture toughness of ceramics?
– have a low flexural strength (little plasticity). Ceramics do not deform easily so cracks propagate easily
What is the process of ceramics shrinking when fired?
sintering
What is the fracture toughness of metal?
- have a high FT due to plasticity at tip of crack, absorbs energy, making crack propagation more difficult
- Metals can deform without propagating the crack further
Why are ceramics a good thermal insulator?
–ceramics are poor conductors of heat
-Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is low
- extremes of temperature can weaken and fracture ceramics
What do griffith flaws have to do with ceramics?
suggested that the low fracture strength of glass is due to the presence of microscopic flaws in the bulk material. Surface flaws act as stress initiators and cause widening and propagation of microcracks through the ceramic material
What is crack propagation?
Crack will propagate through material until a particle is met which stops the crack growth.
What is stress corrosion?
-Ceramic strength is reduced in moist environment
-Stress-dependent chemical reactions between water vapor and crack tip, causing crack growth and fracture with comparatively little occlusal loading
What is the sintering process?
-Ceramic powder/liquid is built up and molded (feldspathic porcelain)
-Process of heating ceramic powder once molded
-Called “Firing” the ceramic
-Sintering is the reduction of porosities between particles as the ceramic becomes more rubbery
What is lass transition temperature (Tg)?
-This is a range of temperature where porcelain starts to become molten
-A transition from solid to rubbery
-This is typically between 540 and 610 degrees Celcius
-This is below the ceramic melting point
(important)
What is heat pressing?
-Relies on external pressure to sinter and shape the ceramic at high temperature
-Restoration is made from a Wax pattern (lost wax technique)
-Also known as High Temperature Injection Molding
(often not as esthetic as traditional sintering)
What is the temperature range of glass transition temperature to make the ceramic rubbery?
540 and 610 degrees Celcius
(important)
What are the types of milling you can do with CAD/CAM?
- hard milling
- soft milling
What is hard milling with CAD/CAM?
-Already densely sintered material
-Silicate, glass ceramics, resin-based
ceramics
What is soft milling with CAD/CAM?
-Partially sintered material
—Zirconia and Lithium Disilicate (e.Max)
-Sintering to be completed in oven AFTER manufacture
What is used in the milling process to make it esthetic?
- multi-shade blocks (used to be limited)
- stain and glaze
What are the types of blocks used for milling CAD/CAM?
- glass ceramics (IPS Emax CAD)
- zirconia (IPS Emax ZirCAD)
- resin-ceramics
- resin