Effect of Powder Characteristics on Slip Casting Fabrication of Dental Zirconia Implants

Dense zirconia compacts were fabricated by slip casting and sintering of nanoscale zirconia powders, and the effect of the powder characteristics (crystallite size, specific surface area, yttria content, and agglomeration) on the slurry and sintered properties was investigated. Three types of commercial 3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals powders were used as the starting powders after the powder characteristic analysis. A zirconia slurry for slip casting was prepared by mixing zirconia powder (solid loading of 60, 65, and 70 wt.%), distilled water, and a dispersant of Darvan C. The green compacts obtained from slip casting were cold isostatic pressed to enhance the close packing and densified by sintering at 1450 °C for 2 h. Highly dense zirconia compacts with a relative density of 99.5% and grain size of 350 nm were obtained based on the powder type and solid loading in the slurry. The microstructure and mechanical hardness of the sintered specimen after slip casting were dependent on the yttria content in the 3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal powder and the solid loading within the slurry.