Our website is currently undergoing maintenance. Article records and full texts remain available. Submissions can be made through the Editorial Manager.

Effect of Conventional and Rapid Sintering on the Mechanical and Hydrothermal Aging Properties of 5Y-TZP Dental Zirconia

Yena Jang, Jae Chul Bang

Journal of Ceramic Science and Technology · Early View (advance online publication) (-1), pp. 1-10

DOI: 10.4416/JCST2025-00016

Download full article (PDF)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of sintering methods on the mechanical properties and hydrothermal aging resistance of 5 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (5Y-TZP), a material widely used for dental restorations due to its aesthetic translucency. Specimens were fabricated using both conventional sintering (CS) and rapid sintering (RS) at two temperatures (1 450 °C and 1 600 °C), and their flexural strength, fracture toughness, and Vickers hardness were compared. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM analyses confirmed that all sintered specimens exhibited dense microstructures with no monoclinic phase detected even after low-temperature degradation (LTD) testing for up to 20 h. CS specimens consistently demonstrated superior mechanical properties, particularly in fracture toughness and flexural strength, and exhibited higher reliability based on Weibull analysis. While RS offered shorter processing times, it showed slightly inferior mechanical properties. The results indicate that, although both sintering methods produced LTD-resistant 5Y-TZP, optimizing the RS parameters is necessary to bridge the performance gap with CS, especially for long-span prosthetic applications.

Keywords

Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals, rapid sintering, conventional sintering, low-temperature degradation, flexural strength, Weibull analysis

View this issue · Article & DOI index