Effect of bioglass additions on the sintering of Y-TZP bioceramics

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of bioglass additions on the sintering and mechanical properties of yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics, Y-TZP. Samples containing different bioglass additions, varying between 0 and 30 wt.%, were cold uniaxial pressed at 80 MPa and sintered in air at 1200 °C or 1300 °C for 120 min. Sintered samples were characterized by X-ray Diffractometry and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Hardness and fracture toughness were determined using Vickers indentation method. As a preliminary biological evaluation, in vitro cytotoxicity tests by Neutral Red Uptake method (using mouse connective tissue cells, NCTC clone L929 from ATCC bank) were realized to determine the cytotoxicity level of ZrO2-bioglass ceramics. The increasing of bioglass amount leads to the decreasing of relative density due to martensitic (tetragonal-monoclinic) transformation during cooling of the sintered samples. Y-TZP samples sintered at 1300 °C containing 5 wt.% of bioglass presented the best results, with high relative density, hardness and fracture toughness of 11.3 GPa and 6.1 MPa m1/2, respectively. Furthermore, the un-cytotoxic behavior was observed in all sintering conditions and bioglass amounts used in this study.