Dynamic fatigue of feldspathic porcelain

Several studies (Sherrill and O'Brien, 1974; Southan and Jørgensen, 1974; Jones, 1983) have shown that stress corrosion fatigue occurs in dental porcelains. Morena et al. (1986) reported on an assessment of slow crack growth parameters for dental ceramics. The purpose of the study reported here was to evaluate the fatigue parameters of a model experimental porcelain using dynamic fatigue testing. This test procedure makes use of several constant stressing rates to perform strength tests. Dynamic stress testing was first described by Evans (1974) and later defined as a distinct test modality by Ritter (1978). From such data, the fatigue parameters can be calculated. These fatigue parameters, n and sigma f0, are, respectively, the crack growth exponent from the crack velocity expression and a materials constant which is dependent on the test environment and the inert (moisture-free) strength. The model porcelain was made from 60% component 1 and 40% component 3 according to the Weinstein patent (Weinstein, et al., 1962). The biaxial flexure strength of 300 specimens 1 mm thick was tested in 37 degrees C water by testing 50 samples at each of 6 constant stressing rates: 100, 10, 1, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 MPa/s. One hundred specimens were tested in a moisture-free environment at 100 MPa/s using a servo-mechanical testing machine. A commercial porcelain (Jelenko Gingival-Lot # 2012, Jelenko Dental Health Products, Armonk, NY, USA) was chosen as a reference material. One hundred twenty specimens were tested using the same procedures as those used for the model porcelain; however, only 20 samples were tested for 5 stressing rate groups and an inert group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)