Optimized sintering and mechanical properties of Y-TZP ceramics for dental restorations by adding lithium disilicate glass ceramics

The novel dental ceramics can be fabricated at lower temperatures when sol-gel derived lithium disilicate glass ceramics(LDGC)was used as an additive for yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystalline(Y-TZP)ceramics.The effect of LDGC on the sintering,mechanical,and translucent properties of Y-TZP ceramics was investigated in the present study.The results showed that the LDGC additive effectively improved the densification of Y-TZP at 1100℃,which was much lower than the sintering temperature for pure Y-TZP.When sintered at 1100℃,the Y-TZP with 1 wt%LDGC reached a relative density of 95.45%,and prossessed a flexural strength of 482.4 MPa and a fracture toughness of 5.94 MPa-m12.Moreover,its translucency was also improved.While,the addition of LDGC could result in an escape of yttrium atoms from the grain lattice of zirconia,which induced the tetragonal-monoclinic transformation of zirconia and abnormal growth of monoclinic grains.The escaped yttrium atoms diffused into the intergranular glass phase.The results indicated that the novel Y-TZP-LDGC ceramics has a great potential to be used for all-ceramic restorations.