Effect of surface treatment on bond strength between an indirect composite material and a zirconia framework

The present study evaluated the effect of various surface treatments for zirconia ceramics on shear bond strength between an indirect composite material and zirconia ceramics. In addition, we investigated the durability of shear bond strength by using artificial aging (20,000 thermocycles). A total of 176 Katana zirconia disks were randomly divided into eight groups according to surface treatment, as follows: group CON (as-milled); group GRD (wet-ground with 600-grit silicon carbide abrasive paper); groups 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 MPa (airborne-particle abrasion at 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 MPa, respectively); and group HF (9.5% hydrofluoric acid etching). Shear bond strength was measured at 0 thermocycles in half the specimens after 24-h immersion. The remaining specimens were subjected to 20,000 thermocycles before shear bond strength testing. Among the eight groups, the 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 MPa airborne-particle abraded groups had significantly higher bond strengths before and after thermocycling. The Mann-Whitney U-test revealed no significant difference in shear bond strength between 0 and 20,000 thermocycles, except in the 0.2 MPa group (P = 0.013). From the results of this study, use of airborne-particle abrasion at a pressure of 0.1 MPa or higher increases initial and durable bond strength between an indirect composite material and zirconia ceramics.