Effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties of age-hardenable gold alloy at intraoral temperature

Limitations of reuse for silver-palladium alloys -Evaluating post-recasting heat treatment impact on corrosion resistance

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of repeated casting and heat treatment on the corrosion resistance of a commercial Ag-Pd-Cu-Au alloy as evaluated by electrochemical techniques. After repeated casting, the fifth cast of the Ag-Pd-Cu-Au alloy exhibited dramatic degradation of properties, although upon heat treatment, this corrosion resistance did improve. Despite the improvement by heat treatment, after five castings, this alloy may not have satisfactory hardness for clinical use. These results of this study demonstrate that, up to the fourth cast and heat treatment, the Ag-Pd-Cu-Au alloy has acceptable corrosion resistance and hardness.

Mechanical complications of implant-supported restorations with internal conical connection implants: A 14-year retrospective study

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Internal conical connections have become the primary choice for implant-supported restorations. However, studies that identified the risk indicators for mechanical complications and diagnosed the prognosis of the implant-supported restorations are lacking.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this retrospective clinical study was to evaluate the incidence and consequences of mechanical complications in components of internal conical connection implants and to analyze the risk indicators.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 428 patients with 898 internal conical connection implants were included in the study, and mechanical complications over the 14-year observation period were evaluated. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to analyze significant effects on mechanical complications, which were presented as hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS

Mechanical complications occurred in 430 (47.9%) implants and 248 (57.9%) patients: screw loosening (46.4% of implants, 56.8% of patients); screw fracture (2.6% of implants, 4.4% of patients); abutment fracture (11.4% of implants, 21.3% of patients); and implant fracture (3.5% of implants, 5.4% of patients). Implant restorations replacing molars showed the highest risk for mechanical complication (hazard ratio 12.82; 95% confidence interval 2.73-60.31) and for fracture of all components. Men had a higher risk of mechanical complication than women (hazard ratio 2.00; 95% confidence interval 1.55-2.59), and the risk of fracture was higher in all components. With increased splinted implants, the risk of mechanical complication (hazard ratio 0.67; 95% confidence interval 0.49-0.93) and component fracture (hazard ratio 0.73; 95% confidence interval 0.29-0.89) decreased. Gold screws had a lower risk of screw loosening (hazard ratio 0.74; 95% confidence interval 0.58-0.94) than titanium screws, but a higher risk of fracture (hazard ratio 3.45; 95% confidence interval 1.42-8.36). The smaller the implant diameter, the higher the risk of implant fracture (hazard ratio 0.01; 95% confidence interval 0.00-0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Abutments were most frequently fractured among the components of internal conical connection type implants. Molar implant-supported restorations and male patients had higher risks of mechanical complications, and as the number of splinted implants in a prosthesis increased, the risk decreased. Gold screws showed less risk of screw loosening and higher risk of fracture than titanium screws. Narrow-diameter implants had a higher risk of fracture.

Annealing study of palladium-silver dental alloys: Vickers hardness measurements and SEM microstructural observations

Three Pd-Ag dental alloys for metal-ceramic restorations, W-1 (Ivoclar Vivadent), Rx 91 (Pentron) and Super Star (Heraeus Kulzer), were subjected to isothermal annealing for 0.5 hr periods in a nitrogen atmosphere at temperatures from approximately 400 degrees to 950 degrees C. The annealing behavior was investigated by Vickers hardness measurements (1 kg load) and SEM microstructural observations. The highest Vickers hardness occurred at approximately 700 degrees C for W-1 and 650 degrees C for Rx 91. For Super Star, there were two peaks in hardness at approximately 500 degrees and 650 degrees C. Additional use of light indenting loads (25 g for W-1; 10 g for Rx 91 and Super Star) revealed that hardness variations during annealing for W-1 and Rx 91 were related to the palladium solid solution matrix phase. For Super Star, the lower-temperature peak was controlled by multi-phase regions and the higher-temperature peak by the matrix phase. While microstructural changes due to annealing were evident with the SEM for Rx 91 and Super Star, no correlation was possible for W-1 because of its finer-scale microstructure. Although commercial Pd-Ag alloys have a relatively narrow composition range, their microstructures and annealing behavior can vary because of differences in proportions of secondary elements utilized for porcelain adherence and grain refinement elements, as well as other proprietary strategies employed by the manufacturers.

Effect of Heat Treatment on Joint Properties of Laser-Welded Ag-Au-Cu-Pd and Co-Cr Alloys

PURPOSE

This study investigated the effect of heat treatment on the strengths of laser-welded cast Ag-Au-Cu-Pd and Co-Cr alloys.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cast plates of Ag-Au-Cu-Pd (Ag) and Co-Cr (Co) alloys were prepared. After polishing the surfaces to be welded, the plates were matched and butted Ag to Ag (Ag/Ag), Co to Co (Co/Co), and Ag to Co (Ag/Co) and welded using Nd:YAG laser at a pulse duration of 10 ms, spot diameter of 1 mm, and voltage of 200 V. Five specimens were prepared for each experimental condition by bilaterally welding them with five spots. The Ag/Ag, Ag/Co, and control Ag underwent two heat treatments-softening (ST) and hardening (AH). A group of as-cast specimens serving as controls was not given either heat treatment. The failure load and percent elongation were measured at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min.

RESULTS

The fracture resistance of Co/Co was similar to that of the control Co, while the fracture resistance of Co/Ag was significantly lower than that of both like alloy pairings for all heat-treating conditions. The control Ag had greater fracture resistance after AH and lower fracture resistance after ST. The AH treatment increased the fracture resistance, and the ST treatment decreased the fracture resistance of both Ag/Ag and Co/Ag, although not significantly. The percentage of elongation appeared to positively correlate with the fracture resistance results.

CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained in this study indicated that the age-hardening heat treatment increased the weld strength between the paired Au-Ag-Cu-Pd alloys and between the Au-Ag-Cu-Pd and Co-Cr alloys.

Effect of heat treatments on machinability of gold alloy with age-hardenability at intraoral temperature

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the effect of heat treatment on the machinability of heat-treated cast gold alloy with age-hardenability at intraoral temperature using a handpiece engine with SiC wheels and an air-turbine handpiece with carbide burs and diamond points.

METHODS

Cast gold alloy specimens underwent various heat treatments [As-cast (AC); Solution treatment (ST); High-temperature aging (HA), Intraoral aging (IA)] before machinability testing. The machinability test was conducted at a constant machining force of 0.784N. The three circumferential speeds used for the handpiece engine were 500, 1,000 and 1,500 m/min. The machinability index (M-index) was determined as the amount of metal removed by machining (volume loss, mm(3)). The results were analyzed by ANOVA and Scheffé's test.

RESULTS

When an air-turbine handpiece was used, there was no difference in the M-index of the gold alloy among the heat treatments. The air-turbine carbide burs showed significantly (p<0.05) higher M-indexes than the diamond points after any heat treatments. With the SiC wheels, increasing the circumferential speed increased the M-index values for each heat treatment. The specimens heat-treated with AC, HA and IA had similar M-indexes at the lower speeds (500 and 1,000 m/min). The ST specimens exhibited the lowest M-index at the lower speeds. However, at the highest speed (1,500 m/min), there were no significant differences in the M-indexes among the heat treatments except for HA, which showed the highest M-index.

CONCLUSION

There was no effect of heat treatment on the machinability of the gold alloy using the air-turbine handpiece. The heat treatments had a small effect on the M-index of the gold alloy machined with a SiC wheel for a handpiece engine.