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Self-reinforced lithium disilicate (Li2Si2O5, LD) glass-ceramics were hot pressing sintered by introducing 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 crystal seeds into two different glass compositions of SiO2–Li2O–P2O5–ZrO2–Al2O3–K2O–La2O3 (7C LD) and SiO2–Li2O–K2O–La2O3 (4C LD). The results show that the seeds play an important role in the crystallization inducement, and microstructural and property improvement of the glass, especially for the glass powder without the nucleating agent of P2O5. The microstructure features a wider bimodal grain size distribution with large rod-like crystals epitaxially grown along the seeds and small crystals nucleated from the glass powder itself, contributing to the improvement of the performance especially the fracture toughness. The specimen of 4C LD glass with the addition of 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 seeds exhibited the best comprehensive properties with a good flexural strength (396±7 MPa), improved fracture toughness (3.31±0.19 MPa·m1/2), and comparable translucency as IPS e.max. This research provides a new idea and method for the improvement of the fracture toughness of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics without affecting its aesthetic appearance, and lays the foundation for its clinical applications.


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Improved performances of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics by seed induced crystallization

Show Author's information Ting ZHAOaMei-Mei LIANaYi QINa( )Jian-Feng ZHUaXin-Gang KONGaJian-Feng YANGb
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Abstract

Self-reinforced lithium disilicate (Li2Si2O5, LD) glass-ceramics were hot pressing sintered by introducing 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 crystal seeds into two different glass compositions of SiO2–Li2O–P2O5–ZrO2–Al2O3–K2O–La2O3 (7C LD) and SiO2–Li2O–K2O–La2O3 (4C LD). The results show that the seeds play an important role in the crystallization inducement, and microstructural and property improvement of the glass, especially for the glass powder without the nucleating agent of P2O5. The microstructure features a wider bimodal grain size distribution with large rod-like crystals epitaxially grown along the seeds and small crystals nucleated from the glass powder itself, contributing to the improvement of the performance especially the fracture toughness. The specimen of 4C LD glass with the addition of 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 seeds exhibited the best comprehensive properties with a good flexural strength (396±7 MPa), improved fracture toughness (3.31±0.19 MPa·m1/2), and comparable translucency as IPS e.max. This research provides a new idea and method for the improvement of the fracture toughness of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics without affecting its aesthetic appearance, and lays the foundation for its clinical applications.

Keywords: mechanical properties, lithium disilicate (LD), seeds, translucency

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Publication history

Received: 25 July 2020
Revised: 22 January 2021
Accepted: 22 January 2021
Published: 03 March 2021
Issue date: June 2021

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© The Author(s) 2021

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51702193 and 51502165), the General Project in Industrial Area of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2020GY-281), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. 20JK0525), the Shaanxi Provincial Education Department serves Local Scientific Research Plan (Grant No. 20JC008), and the Scientific Research Fund of Shaanxi University of Science & Technology (Grant No. BJ16-20 and BJ16-21).

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