Mechanical properties of alumina-zirconia composites for ceramic abutments

Abstract

The need for new materials to substitute injured or damaged parts of the human body has led scientists of different areas to investigate bioceramics since the 70's, when other materials in use started to show rejection problems. Ceramics show some advantages like being the material that best mimics the bone tissue, although present low toughness when compared with the metallic materials. As patients have become more and more demanding regarding esthetic and biocompatibility aspects of their dental restorations, ceramic material has become a main object of scientific interest especially from the material point of view. The alumina-zirconia composites are one of the relatively good and promising candidate for biomaterials application, due to biocompatibility and their mechanical properties that combines high flexural strength with a high toughness. The aim of the present work is to analyze the mechanical properties of these composites, where Y-TZP zirconia content was varied from 5 to 80 wt.% These systems can achieve a flexural strength 93 % and fracture toughness 29 % superior when compared to the pure alumina ceramics. These results showed that ceramic abutments components can be prepared for prosthetic rehabilitations with dental implants.

Keywords

• ceramic abutments
• alumina-zirconia composites
• bioceramics and mechanical properties