The effect of thermal cycling on the shear bond strength of porcelain/Ti–6Al–4V interfaces

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of thermal cycling on the shear bond strength of the porcelain/Ti–6Al–4V interfaces prepared by two different processing routes and metallic surface conditions. Polished and SiO2 particle abraded Ti–6Al–4V alloy and Triceram bonder porcelain were used to produce the interfaces. Porcelain-to-metal specimens were processed by conventional furnace firing and hot pressing. Thermal cycling was performed in Fusayama’s artificial saliva for 5000 cycles between 5±1 and 60±2 °C. After thermal cycling, shear bond tests were carried out by using a custom-made stainless steel apparatus. The results were analyzed using t-Student test and non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test (p<0.01). Most of the polished-fired specimens were fractured during thermal cycling; thus, it was not possible to obtain the shear bond strength results for this group. Sandblasted-fired, polished-hot pressed, and sandblasted-hot pressed specimens presented the shear bond strength values of 76.2±15.9, 52.2±23.6, and 59.9±22.0 MPa, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that thermal cycling affected the polished specimens processed by firing, whereas a significant difference was not observed on the other groups.