Surface modification of dental zirconia implants with a low infiltration temperature glass.

The glass infiltration technique was employed for surface modification of zirconia implants in this study. The prepared glass-infiltrated zirconia with low infiltrating temperature showed excellent mechanical properties and enough infiltrating layer. The zirconia substrate was pre-sintered at 1,200°C and the glass infiltration depth reached 400 μm after infiltrating at 1,200°C for 10 h. The infiltrating glass has good wetting ability, thermal expansion match and good chemical compatibility with the zirconia substrate. Indentation fracture toughness and flexural strength of the dense sintered glass-infiltrated zirconia composite are respectively 5.37±0.45 MPa•m^1/2 and 841.03±89.31 MPa. Its elasticity modulus is 163.99±7.6 GPa and has about 500 μm infiltrating layer. The glass-infiltrated zirconia can be acid etched to a medium roughness (1.29±0.09 μm) with a flexural strength of 823.65±87.46 MPa, which promotes cell proliferation and has potential for dental implants.