2. Contents
What are ceramics?
History
Classification
Composition and manufacture
General properties
Processing methods
Methods of strengthening ceramics
Metal ceramic systems
• Alloys
• Foil bonded
6. Dental Ceramics
An inorganic compound
with non-metallic properties typically
consisting of oxygen and one or
more metallic or semi-metallic
elements (e.g. Al, Ca, Li, Mg, K, Si,
Na, Sn, Ti and Zr) that is formulated
to produce the whole or part of a
ceramic based prosthesis.
Philips (11th Ed.)
8. History of Dental Ceramics
1774 – Alexis Duchateau
1789 – Nicolas de Chemant
1808 – Giuseppangelo Fonzi
1817 – Planteau
1822 – Peale
1825 – Stockton
1903 – Dr. Charles Land
9. 1938 – Dr. Charles Pincus
1962 – Weinstein and Weinstein
• Porcelain with high TEC and low
sintering temp.
• Thermally compatible and bondable
alloys
1965 – Mc Lean and Hughes
1980’s – Dr. Horn
1984 – Adair and Grossman: Dicor
19. Feldspathic Porcelains
A vitreous ceramic based on silica and
potash feldspar (K2O·Al2O3·6SiO2) or
soda feldspar (Na2O·Al2O3·6SiO2).
Silicate ceramics
Silicate Glass
20. Manufacture
Fritting – the combination of
blending, melting and quenching the
glass components.
Frit – resultant product after fritting.
22. Components
Feldspar
• Forms glass phase
Retains shape when fused at high
temperature
Undergoes incongruent melting between
1150-1530˚C to form leucite.
• Potash feldspar (K2O.Al2O3.6SiO2) –
increases viscosity
• Soda feldspar (Na2O.Al2O3.6SiO2 –
lowers fusion temperature
23. Quartz
• Refractory skeleton
• Strengthens and hardens porcelain
Kaolin (Al2O3.2SiO2.2H2O)
• Binder
• Gives opacity therefore generally
omitted
Al2O3
• Strength and opacity
• Alters softening temperature
• Increases viscosity
24. Fluxes and Glass
Modifiers
• Na, K or Ca oxide
• Interrupt silica
tetrahedra
• Lower fusion
temperature
• Increase flow
• Increase thermal
expansion
• Remove impurities
• Excess :
Reduced chemical
durability
Devitrification on
overheating
25. Colouring pigments
• Metallic oxides
• ‘Colour frits’
Titanium oxide →
Yellow - Brown
Shade
Indium → Yellow /
Ivory
Iron oxide / Nickel
oxide → Brown
Cobalt salt → Blue
26. Opacifying agents
• To mask oxide layer
• Metal oxide 8-15% : ZrO, CeO, TiO,
SnO
Stains and color modifiers
• Low fusing coloured porcelain
Other additives
• Boric oxide
• Lithium oxide
• Magnesium oxide
27. Glazes
To seal the open pores
Self-glaze or Auto-glaze
• High temperature
Add-on glaze
• Higher glass modifiers
• Lower temperature
• Less durable
29. Advantages
Biocompatibility
Esthetics
• Colour and Translucency
• Long term colour stability
Durability
• Wear resistant
• No Solubility
Ability to be formed into precise
shapes
30. Disadvantages
Brittle
High shrinkage of conventional
porcelains
Technique sensitive
Specialized training required
Costly equipment
More tooth reduction
Attrition of opposing tooth
Difficult to repair
Expensive
31. Good Properties
Translucency like enamel (Refractive
index – 1.52-1.54)
High Stiffness (Elastic modulus – 10
x 106 psi)
Low thermal conductivity
(0.0050˚C/cm)
Low electrical conductivity
High melting point
33. Bad Properties
Very low tensile
strength
Low fracture
toughness
Extremely sensitive
to the presence of
surface
microcracks.
Difficult to machine
(KHN 460)
34. Coefficient of thermal expansion
Feldspathic porcelains
• Dependent on leucite content
• Metal ceramics – 13.5-15.5 ppm/˚C
• All ceramics – 5.5-7.5 ppm/˚C
• Pressed Leucite systems – 16 ppm/˚C
36. Compaction/Condensation
The process of packing the particles
together and of removing the liquid
binder is known as condensation.
The main driving force involved in
condensing dental porcelain is
surface tension.
Liquid
• Distilled water
• Propylene glycol
39. Firing
Sintering - A process of heating closely
packed particles to achieve interparticle
bonding and sufficient diffusion to
decrease the surface area or increase the
density of the structure.
Liquid phase sintering
41. Types
Air fired
• Slow maturation period
Vacuum fired
• Dense, pore-free mass
• Shorter firing time
Diffusible gas firing procedure
• Helium, hydrogen or steam
42. Stages
Low bisque
• Porous
• Minimal shrinkage
• Weak
Medium bisque
• Flow of glass
• Shrinkage
High bisque
45. Why do Ceramics have a Low
Fracture Toughness?
Actual strength 100 times lower than
theoretical strength
Why?
• Defects and flaws on surface or bulk of
restorations
46. Methods of Strengthening
Strengthening of the brittle material
• Development of residual compressive
stresses within the surface of the
material.
• Interruption of crack propagation
through the material.
Methods of designing components to
minimize stress concentrations and
tensile stresses
47. Development of Residual
Compressive Stresses
The residual stresses must first be
negated by developing tensile
stresses before any net tensile stress
develops.
Ion exchange/ chemical tempering:
• Introduces larger ions into smaller ion
vacancies
• A molten KNO3 bath is used
• Residual compressive stresses = 700
MPa
48. Thermal tempering
• Rapid cooling/quenching of the surface
of the object while it is in
molten/softened state
• Hot glass-phase ceramics are quenched
in silicone oil or other special liquids to
uniformly cool the surface
51. Interruption of crack propagation
Dispersion of a crystalline phase
• Alumina (e.g. In Ceram)
• Mica (Dicor)
Transformation toughening
• Partially Stabilised Zirconia (PSZ)
• Contains 3mol% Yttria which causes the
zirconia to form in the metastable
tetragonal form
• On crack approaching, the tetragonal -
ZrO2 inverts to monoclinic-ZrO2
• There is a volume expansion
52. Optimal prosthesis design
Minimise tensile stress
Minimise stress raisers e.g. sharp corners
Uniform thickness of porcelain
Use fine grit abrasive
Do not use all-ceramic restorations in high
occlusal stress regions
In all-ceramics
• Use greater connector height (4 mm)
• Broader connector
53. Minimize number of firing cycles
Multiple firings
Increase in leucite content
Increase in thermal contraction
coefficient of porcelain
May cause mismatch with metal
Immediate or delayed crack formation
57. Advantages
High strength values due to metal
reinforcement. More fracture
resistant.
Improved fit on individual crowns
provided by cast metal collar.
Less tooth structure removal
compared to all ceramic restorations.
Permanent esthetics
58. Disadvantages
Difficult to obtain good esthetics due to increased
opacity of metal substructure.
Porcelains used in metal ceramic techniques are
more liable to devitrification.
More difficult to create depth of translucency
because of dense opaque porcelain
Preparation for metal ceramic requires significant
tooth reduction to provide sufficient space for the
materials when compared to all metal
restoration.
Patients may be allergic to the metal
60. Contraindications
Patients with active caries or untreated
periodontal disease.
In young patients with large pulp chambers due
to high risk of pulp exposure
Teeth where enamel wear is high and there is
insufficient bulk of tooth structure to allow room
for metal and porcelain.
High lip line
Anterior teeth where esthetics is of prime
importance
Short and thin crowns
61. Feldspathic Porcelain
Leucite is a potassium aluminium silicate
(KAlSi2O6 )
One of the most important phases in dental
ceramics
Leucite tends to form readily from feldspars
Importance:
• Increases thermal expansion
• Gives strength
Drawbacks:
• Greater tendency to devitrify due to alkali content
• Changes in thermal contraction on repeated firing
Shoulder porcelain: used with or without a knife
edge metal margin to avoid metal collar.
62. Types of veneering ceramics
Low fusing ceramics (850-1100˚C)
• Feldspar based porcelains
Ultra low-fusing ceramics (< 850˚C)
• Porcelains and glasses
• E.g. Duceram LFC
Hydrothermal glass
Well distributed small crystal particles (400-500 nm)
Reduced enamel wear
No of sag of alloy
Glazes
• Self-glaze
• Add-on
Stains
63. Classification of MC alloys
(Naylor 1986)
Alloys divided into 2 systems:
A. Noble (Precious) metal alloys
B. Base-metal (Non-noble/non-precious)
alloys
Each system further divided into
constituents
64. SYSTEM GROUP
A) NOBLE METAL ALLOYS
1) Gold-platinum-palladium
2) Gold-palladium-silver
3) Gold-palladium
4) Palladium-silver
5) High palladium
High silver
Low silver
B) BASE METAL ALLOYS
1) Nickel-chromium
2) Cobalt-chromium
3) Other systems
Beryllium
Beryllium free
65. Requirements of MC alloys
Must be able to produce surface oxides for chemical
bonding with dental porcelains.
Co-efficient of thermal expansion should be slightly
greater (0.5-1 ppm/˚C) than that of the porcelain veneer
to maintain the metal- porcelain attachment.
Melting range considerably higher than the fusing range of
the dental porcelain fired on it.
The alloy must have high temperature strength or sag
resistance → that is the ability to withstand exposure to
high temperatures without undergoing dimensional
change.
Processing should not be too technically demanding.
A casting alloy should be biocompatible.
66. Nature of Metal-ceramic Bond
Van der Waals forces
Mechanical retention/entrapment
Compressive forces
Direct chemical bonding
67. Direct Chemical Bonding
Formation of surface oxides which
bond to porcelain
Mechanisms:
• Oxide layer permanently bonded to the
metal
• Surface oxides dissolved by the opaque
layer. Enhanced wetting of metal
surface.
Techniques:
• < 1% of Fe, Sn or In added to alloy.
68. Oxidation or Degassing
This high temperature processing
allows specific oxides to form on the
metal surface which are responsible
for forming a mature, stable oxide
layer for the porcelain metal
attachment
Also recommended for cleaning the
metal of organic debris and remove
entrapped surface gases such as
hydrogen
69. Proprietary agents
Available for application to metal
surface before condensation of
opaque layer.
Applied as thin liquid and fired like
opaque layer.
Functions:
• Improve bonding by limiting build-up of
oxide layer on the base metal surface
70. Copings for MC prostheses
Electrodeposition of Au or other
metal on a duplicate die
Burnishing and heat-treating metal
foils on a die
CAD-CAM processing of a metal ingot
Casting of CP Ti or an alloy through
lost wax process
71. Bonding to Platinum foil
Platinum Bonded Alumina Crown
• 0.025 mm Pt foil burnished onto die
• Coated with 2 m layer of Sn and
oxidized
• Advantages
Reduces subsurface porosity and micro
cracks in the porcelain
72. Twin Foil Technique (Mc Lean et al,
1976)
• Inner foil of 0.025mm platinum provides
a matrix for the baking of the porcelain
• Outer foil which forms the inner skin to
the crown is tin-plated and oxidized to
achieve strong chemical bond with
aluminous core porcelain
• Inner foil removed after firing by
soaking in water
73. Advantages
Reduction of metal and labor costs in
construction.
Provision of a porcelain butt fit on
the labial/buccal surface of the
crown, eliminating the dark shadow
of a metal collar.
Improvement in strength of
aluminous porcelain crown by
reducing internal microcracks and
subsurface porosity
74. Disadvantages
The shrinkage of porcelain makes it
difficult to achieve an accurate fit of
the core porcelain in one bake
Therefore, important to allow for
shrinkage and prevent the fired
porcelain from lifting the platinum
skirt and spoiling the fit
• The cervical contact technique.
75. Bonding to Gold foil
1979, Rojers
• Pure gold
Renaissance system
• Laminated gold-
palladium alloy
coping 0.05mm
thick
• Coping is umbrella
shaped and
corrugated
• All gold foil
76.
77. CAPTEK system
(Capillary Casting
Technology)
• Schottlander and Davis
• Captek P: wax strip
impregnated with gold-
platinum-palladium
powdered alloy
• Captek G: metal strips
with 97.5 wt% Au and
2.5 wt% Ag.
• Thickness 0.25 mm
• Bonding through interlocking and
residual stresses
78. • Advantages
Thinner coping
Improved marginal fit
Enhanced esthetics
Biocompatibility (since 88% of the alloy is
non-oxidizing)
• Indications
Single crowns
FPDs with maximum span length of 18 mm
79. Indications for Foil bonded MC restorations
Porcelain veneer crowning of adolescent teeth
where minimal tooth preparation is necessary.
Anterior teeth, when metal reinforcement is
essential.
Complete porcelain cantilever bridges on
anterior teeth replacing lateral incisors
In heavily worn teeth, thin or short teeth where
minimal occlusal clearance present (not less
than 0.8mm)
Repair of fractured metal- ceramic bridges,
when removal of bridge or splint is undesirable.
80. Contraindications
In periodontally involved teeth,
where preparations extend deeply
into root- face and no shoulder
preparations are possible.
Posterior teeth where large areas of
tooth are missing and uneven bulk
of porcelain is inevitable.
If lingual shoulder preparations are
impossible particularly in molar
region
81. Failure of MC prostheses
Metal oxide-
porcelain
Metal oxide-metal
oxide (Cohesive)
Metal - metal oxide
Metal - porcelain
Cohesive within