1. Purpose Alumina and zirconia exhibit excellent biocompatibility and physical properties as dental materials. However, alumina's low fracture toughness and zirconia's strength degradation due to low-temperature degradation limit their use as monolit...
1. Purpose Alumina and zirconia exhibit excellent biocompatibility and physical properties as dental materials. However, alumina's low fracture toughness and zirconia's strength degradation due to low-temperature degradation limit their use as monolithic materials in applications where stress concentration is expected. Therefore, research on composites such as zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) and alumina toughened zirconia (ATZ), which use each other as reinforcement materials to compensate for these drawbacks, has been ongoing for several decades. Nonetheless, studies on the effect of the composition of tetragonal zirconia stabilizers on the properties of these composites have been limited. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of using these composites as materials for ceramic surgical drill applications by fabricating composites with varying alumina powder particle sizes and tetragonal zirconia stabilizer compositions. The research aims to identify the optimal composite for ceramic implant-related applications by observing changes in properties such as strength, fracture toughness, elastic modulus, hardness, coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and low-temperature degradation characteristics according to particle size and composition. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Specimen preparation Daiichi's HSY-3F-J-NA (NA), a tetragonal zirconia stabilized with 3 mol% Y₂O₃, was used as the reinforcement material. For the ZTA composites, alumina powders with different particle sizes—AKP-53 (∼0.22 μm), ALM-41-01 (∼1.6 μm), and ALM-43 (∼3.0 μm) from Sumitomo—served as the matrix phase. Additionally, ZTA composites were prepared using Tosoh's Zgaia (ZG), which is stabilized with 1.5 mol% Y₂O₃, and Vatechmcis's (Y,Nb)-TZP (ZI), which contains both Y₂O₃ and Nb₂O₅, as reinforcement materials. For the ATZ composites, ZG and ZI were used as the matrix phases with AKP-53 as the reinforcement material. Detailed information is provided below. 2.1.1. Preparation of ZTA specimens To optimize the dispersion of sub-micron-sized AKP-53 powder,
dispersants were added in varying amounts (0, 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 wt%). Additionally, to enhance the formability of the ZTA specimens, the PEG #400 content was varied (0, 1, 2, and 3 wt%). The optimal composition was determined to be 0.2 wt% dispersant and 2 wt% PEG. Based on this, NA zirconia was added to the AKP-53 in amounts ranging from 0 to 40 wt%. The heating rate was varied (50, 100, 200, and 300°C/hr), and the final sintering temperature was set between 1500 and 1650°C. The optimal sintering conditions were identified as heating at 100°C/hr, maintaining 1600°C for 2 hours. Specimens were prepared under these conditions. Using the determined conditions for the NA53 composite, ZG53 and ZI53 composites were fabricated by sintering at temperatures ranging from 1450°C to 1600°C. 2.1.2. Preparation of ATZ specimens Based on the powder mixture additive compositions established for ZTA preparation, ATZ composites with zirconia matrix phases of ZG and ZI and AKP-53 added at 0-30 wt% were prepared. The AKP-53/ZG composites were sintered under conditions of 1250-1550°C (at 100°C intervals) for 2 hours, while the AKP-53/ZI composites were sintered at temperatures ranging from 1440 to 1480°C (at 20°C intervals) for 2 hours. 2.2. Property evaluation The sintered density was measured using the Archimedes method with distilled water. The biaxial strength was evaluated according to ISO 6872, and the fracture toughness was determined using the Vickers indentation fracture method. Vickers hardness was measured in accordance with ASTM C 1327-15(2019). The elastic modulus was calculated using ultrasonic velocity measurements. The coefficient of thermal expansion was assessed using high-temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the range of 20-1200°C, and thermal conductivity was measured between 20-50°C according to KS L 1604. Additionally, the crystalline phase of zirconia and the microstructure of the composites were evaluated using room-temperature XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. 3. Results and Discussion 3.1. ZTA In the NA/AKP-53 composites, the ZTA containing 20 wt% NA zirconia and sintered at 1600°C exhibited the most superior mechanical properties. It was observed that finer alumina particle sizes contributed to higher sintering driving forces, thus favoring densification. Additionally, the optimal sintering temperatures for composites mixed with 20 wt% of NA, ZG, and ZI as zirconia reinforcements were found to be 1600°C, 1500°C, and 1550°C, respectively, resulting in the highest strength and density values. After conducting low-temperature degradation tests at 134°C ± 2°C and 0.2 MPa for 5 hours, it was confirmed that the tetragonal zirconia phase in all composites was stabilized by the alumina matrix, preventing phase transformation to monoclinic zirconia and thereby avoiding low-temperature degradation. 3.2 ATZ In the ZTA experiments, the AKP-53 alumina, selected as the optimal reinforcement, was used to fabricate AKP-53/ZG and AKP-53/ZI composites. These composites exhibited the best mechanical properties when alumina contents were 30 wt% and 20 wt%, and sintered at 1450°C and 1480°C, respectively. The AKP-53/ZG composite showed slightly superior properties compared to the AKP-53/ZI composite. This is attributed to the larger microstructure of the AKP-53/ZI composite compared to AKP-53/ZG. However, in the low-temperature degradation tests, slight degradation was observed in the AKP-53/ZG composite despite its higher alumina content compared to AKP-53/ZI. This was attributed to the insufficient amount of stabilizer (1.5 mol% Y₂O₃), which was inadequate to effectively inhibit the phase transformation to monoclinic zirconia caused by grain growth during sintering at 1450°C. 4. Conclusion Considering thermal conductivity, which is crucial for rapid heat dissipation to minimize bone tissue damage during dental implant procedures, the 20AKP-53/ZI composite was determined to be the optimal material for dental implant drills. keywords : ZrO2, Al2O3, ZTA, ATZ, mechanical properties, LTD Student Number : 2022-2429