Effects of dental porcelain containing silver nanoparticles on static fatigue

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of silver nanoparticles on the behavior of subcritical crack growth (SCG) in dental porcelains. Prior to occurrence of fast fracture in dental porcelains, SCG occurs and leads to strength degradation over time. SCG in dental porcelains can be characterized by the stress corrosion susceptibility coefficient, n. A higher n value means a higher resistance to SCG. In this study, porcelain disks were prepared by mixing a commercial dental porcelain powder with different concentrations of silver nanoparticles, and then air-dried and fired according to manufacturer's instructions. Stress corrosion susceptibility coefficients of powder compacts were determined using a post-indentation method. A Vickers indenter was applied to the porcelain surface, and lengths of median cracks were measured at fixed time intervals over a 24-h period to calculate n. Addition of silver nanoparticles significantly increased the stress corrosion susceptibility coefficient of dental porcelain.