The effect of speed sintering and hydrothermal aging on the biaxial flexural strength and microstructure of recent cubic zirconia material

Aim: To evaluate the effect of speed sintering protocol and hydrothermal aging on the biaxial flexural strength of recent cubic zirconia material.Materials and methods: Discs were prepared from recent cubic zirconia material, Katana UTML (K). The prepared discs were fabricated from milled cylinders. Prepared discs were divided according to sintering protocol applied, either a normal cycle (N) or a speed cycle (S). Half of the discs were subjected to biaxial flexural strength (BFS) test using a universal testing machine.the remaining discs were submitted to accelerated aging (A) for 5 hours and then subjected to biaxial flexural strength (BFS) test. Data collected and analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Scanning electron microscope was used for microstructure analysis. Results: Non-significant difference in (BFS) values were found between both normal and speed sintering protocols before and after subjecting to hydrothermal aging, The highest overall values were reported from KSA (2168± 212.4 MPa) . Average mean grain size values showed a reduction in size after subjecting to speed sintering protocol. Conclusion: Speed sintering protocols and hydrothermal aging did not report a significant difference in biaxial flexural strength mean values. Speed sintering cycles reduced the mean values of grain size.