Study of alumosilicate porcelains: Sol–gel preparation, characterization and erosion evaluated by gravimetric method

In this paper, the sol–gel synthesis and characteristic properties of kalsilite-type alumosilicates (KAlSiO4 and K0.5Na0.5AlSiO4) are reported. The polycrystalline powders were characterized by thermal analysis (TG/DTA), powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Single-phase kalsilite oxides have been obtained after annealing precursor gels for 5 h in the temperature range of 750–850 °C. It was demonstrated that crystallinity of the samples slightly depends on the temperature of annealing. From the results obtained, it could be concluded that the KAlSiO4 solids are composed of the volumetric plate-like grains with no regular size (from 5 μm to 30 μm at 750 °C and around 5–50 μm at 850 °C). Larger crystallites for mixed potassium–sodium kalsilite have formed (from 10 μm to 80 μm at 750 °C and >100 μm at 850 °C) in comparison with potassium kalsilite samples). The erosion of obtained dental porcelain samples stored in saliva, beer and Coca-Cola was compared.