Effect of cathodic arc plasma spraying on shear bond strength between polyether ether ketone and maxillofacial silicone after accelerated aging - An in vitro study.

Aim: To evaluate and compare the shear bond strength between polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and maxillofacial silicone after cathodic arc plasma spraying and accelerated aging.

Settings and design: An in vitro study.

Materials and methods: According to ISO 10477:2020, 72 PEEK specimens were fabricated using computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing with 10-mm diameter and 3-mm thickness, and the silicone specimens were made with 5-mm diameter with 2.5-mm height. The specimens were categorized into Group 1 - No surface treatment, Group 2 - Cathodic arc plasma spraying, and Group 3 - Primer application. The silicone specimens were bonded to PEEK and subjected to accelerated aging for 252 and 504 h. The shear bond strength was performed using a universal testing machine at 1 mm/min crosshead speed.

Statistical analysis used: One-way ANOVA, Tukey HSD test, and Student's t-test, where P < 0.5 was set as significant.

Results: PEEK specimens subjected to primer application exhibited highest shear bond strength of 19.22 ± 0.35 Mpa, 18.55 ± 0.60 Mpa, 18.14 ± 0.65 Mpa, followed by cathodic arc plasma spraying 14.71 ± 0.28 Mpa, 13.54 ± 0.42 Mpa, 12.46 ± 0.48 Mpa after 24 h of fabrication, 252 h, and 504 h of aging and the least shear bond strength exhibited by control 4.98 ± 0.32, Mpa, 4.52 ± 0.33 Mpa, 4.2 ± 0.39 Mpa, respectively. The significance value P = 0.0001, which was <0.05. Hence, the results were found to be statistically significant.

Conclusion: The maximum shear bond strength between PEEK and maxillofacial silicone was seen after primer application, followed by cathodic arc plasma surface treatment. Increasing the aging hours from 252 to 504 h, the shear bond strength was relatively reduced between PEEK and maxillofacial silicone.