Effect of surface treatment on bond strength of Ti-10Ta-10Nb to low-fusing porcelain.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Ti-10Ta-10Nb alloy is a promising alloy for metal ceramic crowns because of its good corrosion resistance and low cytotoxicity. However, more information is needed on the bond strength between this alloy and porcelain.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the surface morphology, surface roughness, and bond strength of a Ti-10Ta-10Nb alloy, pure Ti, and a Ti-6Al-4V alloy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ti-10Ta-10Nb, pure Ti, and Ti-6Al-4V specimens (25 × 3 × 0.55 mm plate) were prepared and then divided into 6 groups (n=8) according to surface treatment. Group P (control group) was polished with SiC paper. Groups S50 and S250 were airborne-particle abraded with 50 μm and 250 μm aluminum oxide powder. Group HCl was immersed in 10% HCl aqueous solution, and Group HF was immersed in 17% HNO(3)/HF solution. Group TiN was coated with TiN. Atomic force microscopy was used to observe the surface roughness of the metal surface. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the surface profile. A 3-point bending test was performed to evaluate the bond strength. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to compare the roughness and bond strength and statistical differences were revealed by the Bonferroni post hoc test (α=.05).

RESULTS: There were significant differences in the surface roughness, surface profile, and bond strength of the Ti alloys according to the surface treatments. The groups with the higher mean surface roughness showed higher bond strength, but surface profile had a larger effect on the bond strength than surface roughness. Moreover, the bond strength of the Ti-10Ta-10Nb alloy was high.

CONCLUSIONS: Ti-10Ta-10Nb would be more suitable for a metal ceramic crown than pure Ti or Ti-6Al-4V, which have limited use because of their low bond strength to porcelain.