Effect of Low-Concentration Hydrofluoric Acid Etching on Shear Bond Strength and Biaxial Flexural Strength after Thermocycling

This study evaluated the shear bond strength (SBS) and biaxial flexural strength (BFS) of resin cements according to the surface treatment method using low-temperature hot etching with hydrofluoric acid (HF) on a yttrium-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (Y-TZP) surface; 96 discs and 72 cubes for BFS and SBS tests for Y-TZP were randomly divided into four groups of BFS and three groups of SBS. Specimens were subjected to the following surface treatments: (1) no treatment (C), (2) air abrasion with 50 μm Al₂O₃ particles (A), (3) hot etching with HF at 100 °C for 10 min (E), and (4) air abrasion + hot etching (AE). After treatments, the specimens were coated with primer, and resin cement was applied with molds. The specimens were evaluated for roughness (Ra) via scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, and the data were analyzed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Group E produced significantly higher SBS compared to group A and AE before and after thermocycling. The BFSs of all groups showed no significant differences before thermocycling; however, after thermocycling, C and E treatment groups were significantly higher compared to group A and AE. All groups showed phase transformation. Group E was observed lower monoclinic phase transformation compared to other groups.