Preparation and characterization of a titanium bonding porcelain

The titanium bonding porcelain was synthesized through normal melting-derived route using borate–silicate system. The porcelain was characterized by thermal expansion, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and cytotoxicity tests. The results of X-ray diffraction showed that the main phase of the bonding porcelain was SnO2. The SnO2 microcrystals precipitated from the glass matrix when the SnO2 content was increased. The thermal expansion coefficient of bonding porcelains decreased with the increasing concentration of SiO2. The thermal expansion coefficient of bonding porcelains first decreased slightly with the increasing of B2O3 concentration (from 0 wt% to 10 wt%) and then increased to about 9.4 × 10− 6/°C(from 10 wt% to 12 wt%). As an intermediate, B2O3 can act as both network formers and modifiers, depending on the relationship between the concentration of basic oxides and intermediates. The Vickers hardness of bonding porcelains increased with the increase of SnO2 concentration. When SnO2 concentration was 6 wt%, only Si and Sn elements attended the reaction between titanium and porcelain and mainly adhesive fracture was found at Ti-porcelain interface. When SnO2 concentration was 12 wt%, failure of the titanium–porcelain predominantly occurred in the bonding porcelain and mainly cohesive fracture was found at Ti-porcelain interface. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay results demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of the titanium porcelain was ranked as 0.