Infiltrated spinel-based ceramic (MgAl2O4) for dental application

Abstract

This work developed a ceramic material for dental application, spinel-base (MgAl2O4), a ceramic material with recognized translucency. Spinel powders were uniaxially pressed at 100 MPa and pre-sintered in order to obtain porous ceramic blocks. The pre-sintered blocks were characterized and indicated 80% of relative density. X-ray diffraction (XRD) only showed MgAl2O4 phase. Samples with 15 x 15 x 1 mm were submitted to infiltration using glass rich in lanthanum (La). The products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanical properties, as hardness and fracture toughness. Results were compared to the commercial product VITA-InCeram Spinell. Relative densities exceeding 92%, hardness around 900 HV and high toughness 2.5 MPa.m1/2 were obtained for both examined systems.