Tomography of indentation cracks in feldspathic dental porcelain on zirconia.

Objectives: The objective of this work is to study the crack produced by spherical and sharp indentation on veneering feldspathic dental porcelain in order to understand the morphology of the cracks in the surface and beneath the indentation using a tomographic technique. The geometry of cracks produced under contact loading are directly related to the structural integrity and reliability of dental prosthesis.

Methods: Monotonic Hertzian contact loading and nanoindentation tests were performed on feldspathic porcelain (VITA-VM9) coatings. Residual imprints and the cracks produced by the indentations were characterized by 3-dimensional reconstruction using focused ion beam tomography.

Results: Under nanoindentation, the propagating crack deflects due to the interaction with the leucite particles resulting in a crack with a complex morphology. Under spherical contact loading, multiple ring cracks were observed at the surface, with a conical shape beneath the residual imprint.

Significance: These results will help to improve the mechanical performance of these materials by detecting potential causes of failure for the long term structural integrity and reliability of the prosthesis.