Bond strength, microhardness, and core/veneer interface quality of an all-ceramic system

This study was designed to evaluate three veneering materials for an all-ceramic alumina system in terms of bond strength, microhardness, and core/veneer interface quality.

Fifteen In-Ceram cores were constructed for this study, forming three groups of five specimens each divided by the veneering ceramic disc fired on the occlusal surface of the alumina core: Vitadur N, Vitadur Alpha, or VM7. The specimens underwent shear bond and microhardness testing. Gross examination of debonded discs by SEM and EDAX analysis was conducted. Data for shear bond strength (SBS) and microhardness were presented as means and standard deviation (SD) values. One-way ANOVA and Duncan's post hoc test were used for pairwise comparison between the means when ANOVA test was significant.

VM7 showed the highest shear bond value and lowest microhardness values of the three tested veneering materials. No statistically significant difference was evident between the SBSs of Vitadur N and Vitadur Alpha to the alumina cores. Vitadur Alpha showed statistically the highest mean VHN, followed by Vitadur N, while VM7 showed statistically the lowest mean values of VHN.

In-Ceram core/Vitadur N disc debondings appeared to be interfacial by complete delaminations, leaving a shiny visible and quite distinct area, whereas there appeared to be perfect adhesion between the core and VM7 veneering material. VM7 appeared to possess ultra-fine texture with intimate contact to the core, forming what seemed like a transition zone where the ceramic and core appeared to blend for a distance. VM7's finer particle size has improved the core/veneer bond strength and decreased micohardness values. This new veneering material will probably enhance the performance and esthetics of the In-Ceram system.