Investment materials

The Principle laboratory procedure method used from

metal inlays, onlays, crown and bridges is to cast molten metal
by centrifugal force or under pressure into a mold cavity.
Following the production of wax pattern, the next stage in many
dental procedure for construction of crown and bridge and
removable partial denture restoration are the investment of the
wax pattern to a mould , the operation of forming a mould is
described as investing. When the investment set hard, the wax
are removed by softening or burn out to leave space which is
filled an alloy using casting technique.

Properties required for the investment material

1. Easily manipulated.
2. Sufficient strength at room temperature and at higher
temperature to withstand the impact force of molten
metal.
3. Stability at higher temperature that is to say it should
not decompose to give off gases that could damage
the surface of the alloy.
4. Sufficient expansion which is compensate for
shrinkage of the wax pattern and the metal that take
place during casting procedure.
5. Porous enough to permit the air and other gases in
the mold cavity to escape easily during casting
process.
6. Smooth surface.
7. Inexpensive.
8. Ease of divestment.
Composition of investment materials
In general , investment materials is mixture of three
distinguishing type of materials.;

1. Refractory material: This materials is usually a form of

silicon dioxide, such as quartiz, tridymite, or cristobalite ,
or mixture of these. Silica is a refractory materials which is
capable of withstanding very high temperature that is used
during casting it is also responsible of much of expansion
necessary to compensate for casting shrinkage of the alloy.
2. Binder material: because the refractory material alone do
not form a coherent solid mass, some kind of binder is
needed. The common binder is used for dental cast is α
calcium sulphate hemihydrates, phosphate and ethyl
silicate.
Investment can be classified according to the type of
binder into:
 Gypsum bonded investment.
 Silica bonded investment.
 Phosphate bonded investment.
The main factor involve in the selection of the investment
material are the casting temperature to be used and the type of
the alloy to be casted.
Gypsum bonded investment used with gold alloy as the gold
alloy are casted at relatively low casting temperature(900°C)
while some chromium alloy requires casting temperature of
around(1450°C), for this reason cast Silica or Phosphate bonded
investment are used.

3. Other chemical material: usually mixture of refractory

material and the binder alone dose not enough to produce
all desired properties required for investment. Other
chemicals , such as sodium chloride, boric acid, potassium
sulfate, graphite, copper powder or magnesium oxide are
often added in small quantities to modify various physical
properties. For example, small amounts of chlorides or
 boric acid enhance the thermal expansion of investments
bonded by calcium sulfate.

GYPSUM BONDED INVESTMENT

These materials are supplied as powder which are mixed
with water and compose of silica and calcium sulphate
hemihydrates together with other minor component.
The setting expansion of calcium sulphate dihydrate is
used partially to compensate for the shrinkage of the alloy
during casting. A mixture of silica and gypsum hemihydrates
results in setting expansion greater than that of gypsum product .
the silica particles interfere with the intermeshing and
interlocking of the crystals as they form. Thus, the thrust of the
crystals is outward during growth , and they increase expansion.
Further more the compensation for the expansion can be
achieved by employing the hygroscopic setting expansion which
is occur in the investment mould if it is placed into the water at
the initial setting stage. It can result in an expansion of five
times than that the normal expansion. Gypsum bonded
investment decompose above (1200 C°) by interaction of silica
with calcium sulphate to liberate sulpher trioxide gas. This is not
cause sever weakening of investment alone but lead to the
incorporation of porosity into the casting. Thus the gypsum
bonded investment are restricted to use with those alloy which
are casted below (1200 C°) this include the majority of gold
alloy , while the majority of base metal alloy (chromium alloy)
has higher casting temperature and required the use of silica or
phosphate bonded.
The setting time of gypsum bonded investment can be
measured in the same manner as plaster. It should not shorter
than 5 minutes nor longer than 25 minutes.
 Three types of gypsum bonded investments can be
identified as follows:
 Type 1 for casting inlays and crowns.
 Type 2 for casting complete and partial dentures

Silica bonded investment

It consist of powdered silica which is bonded together with
silica gel on heating silica gel turn into the silica. So that the
complete mould is tighter packed of silica particle. A very mix
of investment is used and it is vibrated in order to encourage the
close packing procedure which is a strong investment that have
sufficient strength.
Ethyl-silicate bonded investments do not expand on setting
in the same way that gypsum-bonded and phosphate-bonded
materials do

Phosphate bonded investment

These materials consist of powder contain silica,
magnesium oxide and ammonium phosphate. On mixing with
water or with colloid silica sol. The reaction between phosphate
and oxide occur to form magnesium ammonium phosphate. The
use of colloidal sol of silica instead of water of mixing with
powder has a dual effect in increasing setting expansion &
strengthen the material. The gypsum and the phosphate bonded
investment are sufficiently porous to allow the escarpment of air
and other gases from the mold during casting. While silica
bonded investment are closely pack that are porosity free
therefore there is as danger of big pressure building up which is
caused the mould to incompletely fault. This problem can be
prevented by making a vent in the investment which prevent the
pressure from increasing.
Two types of phosphate-bonded investment can be
identified as follows:
 Type 1 for inlays, crowns and other fixed restorations.
 Type 2 for partial dentures and other cast, removable
restorations.