Characterization of dental metal-ceramic interfaces immersed in artificial saliva after substructural mechanical metallization with titanium

The purpose of this study was to analyze the mechanical strength and microstructure of dental metal-ceramic interfaces immersed in acidic artificial saliva after mechanical metallization of a NiCr-based substrate. Commercial NiCrMo alloy and dental porcelain were characterized before the production of metal-ceramic specimens. Therefore, a group of metallic surfaces was mechanically metallized with Ti. After that, metal-ceramic interfaces were produced and immersed in an electrochemical cell containing artificial saliva. In order to accelerate the corrosion of the interfaces, a potential of 0.75. V was applied on the metallic substrate for 30. min. 3-point bending tests of the metal-ceramic systems were carried out according to the ISO-9693 standard before and after immersion tests. The metallic surfaces as well as the metal-ceramic interfaces were analyzed by SEM-EDS. There was a decrease of the mechanical strength of conventional metal-ceramic interface after immersion. However, the mechanical strength of the samples with metallized interfaces remained unaltered after immersion in artificial saliva.