Assessment of measurement techniques to determine the interfacial properties of bilayer dental ceramics

The clinical success of all-ceramic dental restorations depends on the quality of interfacial bonding between ceramic layers. In addition, the residual stress in the structure that developed during ceramic processing is one of the important factors that contributes to the quality of the bond. Because all-ceramic restorations are usually fabricated as bilayer or trilayer structures and failures of all-ceramic restorations have been frequently reported as chipping or delamination of the veneer layers, the interfacial quality of bilayer dental ceramic restorations was investigated. However, most of the published bond test data reflect strength values that are inversely related to cross-sectional areas and failure locations are frequently disregarded or bond strength values are misinterpreted. In addition, residual tensile stresses that develop in the structures because of thermal expansion/contraction mismatches may also adversely affect interfacial fracture resistance. The first objective of this study was to determine the interfacial toughness of bonded bilayer ceramics using two different approaches. The results indicate that the short-bar chevron-notch test and a controlled-flaw microtensile test can induce interfacial failure that represents true bonding quality. The second objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that residual stresses estimated from an indentation technique are not significantly different from residual stresses that are calculated based on fractography and flexural strength. The indentation technique may be useful as a simplified method to determine residual stresses in bilayer dental ceramics. The results of this study demonstrate that there is no significant difference in mean residual stresses determined from the two techniques. Because of relationship between residual stresses and apparent interfacial toughness, estimates of residual stresses can now be estimated more rapidly by measuring the apparent interfacial toughness of bilayer systems.