Microtensile bond strength of different types of resin cement to different zirconium-oxide ceramics

The objective of this study was to evaluate the microtensile bond strength (MTBS) of different types of resin cement to different brands of sandblasted zirconium-oxide ceramic. Three brands of zirconium-oxide ceramic fully sintered blocks(Cercon, Lava and Katana) ,which surfaces were finished with silicon carbide abrasive and sandblasted with 50µm aluminumoxide particles, followed by ultrasonic cleaning in distilled water for 10 minutes. Zirconium-oxide ceramic were bonded to the same size of resin composite blocks (Filtek Z250) that were finished with the same -grit silicon carbide abrasive and cleaned for 10 minutes in an ultrasonic bath. The ceramic-composite blocks were luted with three different resin cements (Panavia F2, Superbond C&B and RelyX Unicem) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ceramic-composite blocks were cut under water coolant to produce microbar specimens, which have bonding area 1 ± 0.1mm2. The microtensile bond strength was tested with universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. The broken microbars were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The MTBS of Lava/Superbond group (53.87 N/mm2) produced the highest MTBS, while Cercon/Panavia group (43.28 N/mm2) produced the lowest MTBS. Type of resin cement and type of zirconium-oxide ceramic have effect on MTBS, while the interaction between zirconium-oxide ceramic and types of resin cement was not significant.