CERAMICS AND PORCELAIN

FUSED TO METAL (PFM)

DR MARIAM ABBAS
DENTAL MATERIALS
INTRODUCTION
• The word ceramic is derived from the greek word keramos, that
literally means ‘burnt stuff’, more specifically it’s a material produced
by burning or firing.

OR

• An inorganic compound with non metallic properties typically

composed of metallic/ semi metallic and non metallic elements ( e.g
Al2O3, CaO, and Si3N4)
• Used for the production of crowns, bridges, veneers e.t.c

• Produced in almost every shade or tint and its tranlucency imparts a

depth of colour that’s unobtainable by other materials

• The material itself is opaque, relatively weak and porous ; would be

unsuitable for dental applications

• Blending with other minerals, such as silica and feldspar gives the
translucency and extra strength required for dental restorations.
COMPOSITION:
• There’s a considerable difference between dental and decorative
porcelain ; dental porcelain containing little or no clay at all.

• KAOLIN (CLAY) : a hydrated aluminosilicate

• SILICA
• FELDSPAR (FLUX/ BINDER): mixture of sodium and potassium
aluminosilicate
• GLASS
• PIGMENTS: metal oxides
• BORAX
• Feldspar is the lowest fusing component , melts and flows during
firing, uniting the other components in a solid mass.

• The fusion temperature of feldspar may be further reduced by adding

to it other low fusing fluxes such a borax.

• The precise formulations of dental porcelains vary among the variable

products
• During manufacture, the constituents are mixed together and then
fused to form a frit. Frit is the mixture of silica and fluxes which is fused at high temperature to make glass
• This is broken up by dropping the hot material into cold water and
then grounded into a fine powder that’s ready for use.

• During fusion, the flux reacts with the outer layers of the grains of
silica, kaolin, or glass and partly combines them together
CLASSIFICATION:
1. ACCORDING TO FIRING TEMPERATURE

• Low fusing: 850 – 1100 degree C

(more commonly used)

• High fusing: 1300 – 1400 degree C

2. ACCORDING TO INDICATION:
• Anteriors
• Posteriors
• Crowns
• Veneers
• FPDs
• Post and cores
• Dentin ceramic
• Opaque dentin ( gingival)
• Enamel ceramic
3. ACCORDING TO TRANSLUCENCY:
• Opaque
• Transparent
• Translucent

4. ACCORDING TO PROCESSING METHOD:

• Sintering
• Partial sintering
• Glass infiltration
• CAD – CAM
• Copy milling
5. ACCORDING TO COMPOSITION:
• Pure alumina
• Pure zirconia
• Silica glass
• Leucite based glass ceramic
• Lithia based glass ceramics
METHOD OF PROCESSING:
1. SINTERING:
The process of heating closely packed particles to a specified
temperature.
OR:
A method for creating objects from powders. The atoms in the
powder particles diffuse across the boundaries of the particles, fusing
the particles together and creating one solid piece.
The general procedure of creating ceramic objects via sintering of
powders includes:
• Mixing water, binder, deflocculant, and unfired ceramic powder to
form a slurry;
• Spray-drying the slurry;
• Putting the spray dried powder into a mold and pressing it to form a
green body (an unsintered ceramic item);
• Heating the green body at low temperature to burn off the binder;
• Sintering at a high temperature to fuse the ceramic particles together.
2. COPY MILLING:
A technique for the fabrication of copy milled ceramic restorations.
Both direct and indirect fabrication techniques of inlays, onlays,
veneers, and crowns are possible.
3. CAD – CAM :
field of dentistry used to improve the design and to create
dental restorations, especially the prostheses, including crowns, crown
lays, veneers, inlays and onlays, bridges, and dental implants.
TYPES
1. SILICATE CERAMICS

2. OXIDE CERAMICS

3. NON OXIDE CERAMICS

4. GLASS CERAMICS
1. SILICATE CERAMICS:
• Contains amorphous glass phase
• Porous structure
• Main components are SiO2 with small additions of crystalline Al2O3,
ZrO2, and/or other oxides
• Dental porcelains fall into this category
2. OXIDE CERAMICS:
• Contains crystalline phase ( Al2O3, ZrO2)
• Either no glass phase or a very small content of glass phase.
• Zirconia is of major dental importance because of its high fracture
toughness.
• Pure ZrO2 is not a useful dental ceramic.. Because???
3. NON OXIDE CERAMICS:
• Impractical in dentistry because of:
- high processing temperatures
- complex processing methods
- unaesthetic colors and opacity
• Includes borides, carbides, nirtrides
4. GLASS CERAMICS:
• Partially crystallized glasses
• Produced by nucleation and growth of crystals in the glass matrix
phase.
• Example: Dicor glass ceramic.
COMPACTION AND FIRING:
• The porcelain powders are mixed with water to produce a plastic
mass of material which can be moulded and carved before firing.

• Binders, such as sugar or starch is added to improve the working

properties.

• The aqueous plastic mass of porcelain particles is compacted as much

as possible onto a platinum foil matrix.
• The moulded crown is lightly vibrated to settle down the powder
particles and to bring the excess water to the surface that can be
removed with an absorbent cloth.

• Following compaction, the next stage is firing.

Porcelain furnace:
• Porcelain furnace consists of an electrically heated muffle with a
pyrometer which indicates the temperature in that part of the muffle
where porcelain is placed.

• Mostly the firing takes place under vacuum, which in turn reduced the
porosity from around 4.6% to 0.5%.

• The furnace door is left slightly opened initially to allow the products of
combustion to escape.

• The door is then closed and firing is completed

• Shrinkage takes place as the fluxes bind the particles together causing
a uniform inward contraction of the whole mass.

• Porcelain work is heated or cooled very slowly.

• Since it’s a poor conductor of heat, and is brittle, rapid cooling would
result in crack formation and loss of strength.
• The accuracy of fit is maintained by building up the porcelain on a
platinum foil which has been closely adapted to the die.

• Shrinkage occurs inwards towards the platinum foil.

• Before cementation, the foil is removed from the inner surface of the
crown to create about 25 micrometers space for cementation.
PROPERTIES:
• Almost perfect material for the replacement of missing tooth
• Available in a range of shades and various levels of translucency
• More resistant to corrosion than plastics and metals
• Generally do not react with most liquids, gases, alkalis, and acids
• Remain stable over long time periods
• Exhibit a fair to excellent flexural strength and fracture toughness
• Although strong but are brittle and may fracture if heated or cooled
down too quickly
• The brittleness of the dental ceramics is compounded by their
tendency to undergo static fatigue ( time dependent decrease in
strength)
• This weakening is further accelerated by dynamic mechanical loading
• Strengthening of ceramics can be done to overcome the problem
• Hardness of porcelain contributes to its ability to resist forces of
abrasion
• The shape of crystalline inclusions within the ceramics appears to be
an important factor in determining the abrasive potential of a ceramic
material.
• Possesses an excellent thermal properties and are good thermal
insulators

• Correctly formulated porcelain is very resistant to chemical attacks ,

being unaffected by the wide variations of pH which may be
encountered inside the oral cavity.
ALUMINA INSERTS AND ALUMINOUS
PORCELAIN:
• As discussed earlier, one of the major disadvantages of porcelain is its
brittleness, which limits its use.
• Several methods have been proposed that aim to prevent the
formation and propagation of cracks
- use a core of pure alumina on which the porcelain crown is
constructed.
- use of alumina inserts
- powdered alumina may be added to porcelain
• Porcelain that contains alumina is referred to as aluminous porcelain
and the content is normally around 40%

• Can only be used to construct the inner core region, since its opaque

• It offers flexural strength of about 110 Mpa .

SINTERED ALUMINA CORE CERAMICS:
• Further introduction of sintered alumina cores has been done for
additional strengthening of porcelains.
• stages in production:
1. Formation of a duplicate die using a ‘special’plaster
2. An alumina slip is prepared from alumina powder an water and its
painted on to the die
3. The moisture from the slip is absorbed by the plaster leaving a layer
of alumina powder, that should ideally be 0.5mm thick.
4. Sintering is then carried out at 1120 degree C for 2 hours

5. Firing causes the material to shrink, making removal of the sintered alumina
easy.

6. The outer surface of the core is painted with a slurry of glass powder and
firing is done at 1100 degree C

7. The glass used is a lanthanum aluminosilicate

8. Microblasting is done to remove the gross excesses of glass and refiring is

done at 960 degree celcius

9. On completion, the dentine and enamel layers are built up in the traditional
method.
• Spinel based cores of magnesium aluminate have been used instead
of alumina. These have an advantage of improved translucency but
the are not as strong as the alumina cores.

• A further advancement is the use of significant quantities of

zirconium oxide to achieve further strengthening and a flexural
strength of up to 800MPa, but these limits the aesthetics cause of
their opacity.
INJECTION MOULDED AND PRESSED
CERAMICS:
• First proposed in 1983, for the all ceramic, single anterior or posterior
crowns
• This has potentially eliminated the use of platinum foil for improved
adaptation of the crown
• The non- shrink properties are achieved by the incorporation of
significant quantities of magnesium oxide, which reacts with alumina
to form a mixed metal oxide. This is known as SPINEL.
• The spinel is less dense than the original mixture of oxides and its
formation results in an expansion that compensates for firing
shrinkage.
• TECHNIQUE FOR THE FABRICATION OF CERAMIC COPINGS:
1. Formation of wax pattern on an epoxy resin die

2. Mixed material is injected under the pressure at 180 degree C into

the prepared mould
3. Firing is carried out using controlled temperatures up to 1300
degree C
4. Spinel is formed
5. Veneer porcelains are baked on to the surface of the copings to
produce a finished crown.
• Strength is same as that of the ordinary aluminous porcelain plus the
complexity of the procedure because of the need for special
equipment has limited its use.
• Further advancement is IPS Empress in which a molten feldspathic
type glass is pressed into a preformed mould.

• After the molten glass has been forced into the mould underpressure,
it is allowed to cool under controlled conditions which allows
reinforcing the leucite crystals to form (to increase the resistance for
crack propagation)
• FOR ANTERIOR CROWNS:

- Layering technique is normally used

- A fully sized crown is made from a wax pattern and the structure is
then cut back in those areas where conventional layered porcelains
are used for optimal aesthetics, and to give adequate space for
veneering.
• FOR POSTERIOR CROWNS/ INLAYS E.T.C:
- Layering is impossible because of insufficient space

• The latest version, IPS Empress 2 is based upon lithium disilicate

ceramic
• Have flexural strength of 300 – 400 Mpa
• Recommended for the fabrication of 3- unit bridges (FPD)
CAST GLASS AND POLYCRYSTALLINE CERAMICS:
• Same process used as in the lost wax technique
• Used only for single crowns

• TECHNIQUE:
- Crowns formed by wax pattern
- Invested in phosphate bonded material
- Burning out of the wax at about 950 degrees
- Molten ceramic is cast centrifugally into a mould at around 1350
degrees
- Transparent glass crown is formed, which is heat treated at 1075
degrees for 10 hours ; known as CERRAMING
- This causes partial crystallization to form mica like crystals, having a
dual effect.
1. reduces the translucency
2. increases strength

- Colour matching is done by applying a series of tinted porcelain

- Refiring done
- Further improvements in appearance are done by selecting the
correct shade of the luting cement.
YTTRIUM STABILIZED ZIRCONIA POLY CRSTALS:
• Another material introduced, based upon yttrium tetragonal zirconia
poly crystals (Y – TZP)

• Yttrium oxide is blended with zirconium oxide

• The restorations may be processed using casting , milling, or CAD-

CAM

• Very high flexural strength ( 900 – 1200 Mpa) and fracture toughness
CAD – CAM:
• Stands for COMPUTER AIDED
DESIGN – COMPUTER AIDED MANUFACTURE.

• Involves recording an optical impression from which a restoration can

be designed using a computer.

• The design details are then used to construct the restoration using a
milling machine which cuts the desired shape from a monolithic block
of ceramic .
• A relatively flexible technique in terms of shapes of restoration.

• An optical impression is recorded using a miniature camera which

scans the prepared tooth for about 10 seconds

• The tooth surface has to be clean and dry and is coated in an optically
reflective powder to maximize image acquisition.

• The design of the restoration on the computer screen takes between

10 and 25 mins, depending upon the complexity of the restoration

• Milling process is done for further 5 – 10 minutes.

• The restoration is tried and adjusted

• Fitting surface is etched with hydrofluoric acid
• A silane coupling agent is applied to aid retention before final
cementation using a dual cured resin cement.
• Final polishing can be done in situ.

• ADVANTAGE:
- Physical properties maximized
- Chair side preparation can be done
PORCELAIN VENEERS:
• For improved appearance of stained or discoloured teeth

• Consist of a wafer thin shell structure that is fabricated in a way thet

can be closely adapted to the tooth structure

• Advisable to remove 0.5 mm thickness labial enamel.

Advantage of Porcelain veneers
• Durable

Disadvantage of Porcelain veneers

• Fabrication is time consuming

Alternatives to porcelain veneers

 Pre-formed acrylic veneers
 Polishable composite resin veneers
PORCELAIN FUSED TO METAL (PFM)
• The restoration consist of an alloy substructure and with bonded
porcelain veneers

• PFM combines the good mechanical properties of cast dental alloys

with the excellent aesthetic properties of porcelain.

• Compatibility of porcelain with the metals is important

Requirements of the alloy:
• Must have a high fusion temperature

• Sufficiently rigid

• Should be capable of forming a bond with the porcelain

• Should have a high value of thermal expansion

• Currently four types of alloys are used:
1. High gold alloys
2. Low gold alloys
3. Silver – palladium alloys
4. Nickel – chromium alloys
1. High gold alloys
 The major difference
between these alloys and
the non-porcelain bonded
are:
The presence of high platinum/palladium
Absence of copper
• Platinum/Palladium rises the melting temperature of alloy.

• Decrease the coefficient of thermal expansion to a value closer to

that of porcelain.

• Tin and indium promotes bonding between alloy and porcelain by

forming oxide layer
2. LOW GOLD ALLOYS:

 Contains 50% gold,

 30% palladium

 to raise the melting temp and lower the

coefficient of thermal expansion

 10% silver and 10% indium

 for porcelain bonding

3. SILVER – PALLIDIUM ALLOYS:

• 60% palladium

• 30% silver

• 10% indium & tin

- Porcelain takes up of green hue due to silver content

4. NICKEL – CHROMIUM ALLOYS:
• 70-80% Nickel

• 10-25% chromium

• Traces of molybdenum, tungsten and beryllium