• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.595-605
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• 2000

Dental ceramics have good aesthetics, biocompatibility, low thermal conductivity, abrasion resistance, and color stability. However poor resistance to fracture and shrinkage during firing process have been limiting factors in their use, particularly in multiunit ceramic restorations. A new method for making all-ceramic crowns that have high strength and low processing shrinkage has been developed and is referred to as the Vita In-Ceram method. This study was performed to investigate the effect of $CeO_2$ addition in borosilicate glasses on the strength of alumina-glass composites. Porous alumina compacts were prepared by slip casting and sintered at $1,100^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. Dense composites were made by infiltration of molten glass into partially sintered alumina at $1,140^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours. Specimens were polished sequentially from #800 to #2000 diamond disk. and the final surface finishing on the tensile side was received an additional polishing sequence through $1{\mu}m$ diamond paste. Biaxial flexure test was conducted by using ball-on-three-ball method at a crosshead speed of 0.5mm/min. To examine the microstructural aspect of crack propagation in the alumina-glass composites, Vickers-produced indentation crack was made on the tensile surface at a load of 98.0 N and dwell time of 15 sec, and the radial crack patterns were examined by an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The porosity rates of partially sintered alumina decreased with the rising of firing temperature. 2. The maximum biaxial flexure strength of 423.5MPa in alumina-glass composites was obtained with an addition of 3 mol% $CeO_2$ in glass composition and strength values showed the aspect of decrease with the increase of $CeO_2$ content. 3 The biaxial flexure strength values of alumina-glass composites were decreased with rising the firing temperature. 4. Observation of the fracture surfaces of alumina-glass composites indicated that the enhancement of strength in alumina-glass composites was due to the frictional or geometrical inter-locking of rough fracture surfaces and ligamentary bridging by intact islands of materials left behind the fracture front.