Influence of microstructure on indentation and machining of dental glass-ceramics

The influence of microstructure on the abrasive machining and indentation response for a series of dental glass-ceramics was characterized. The experimental materials prepared for this study contained crystalline mica platelets that ranged in diameter from about 1 to 15μm, while the volume fraction of mica remained essentially constant. Damage formation and material removal behavior were studied as a function of mica platelet size using Vickers indentation, Berkovich instrumented indentation, and abrasive machining. In the instrumented indentation experiments, the energy absorbed in indentation decreased with increasing platelet size when indentations of equal penetration depth are made in each material. To characterize the grinding response, the normal and tangential forces for each material were measured as a function of the depth of cut in surface grinding. The grinding forces and the specific grinding energy at fixed depths of cut decreased with increasing the mica platelet size following the same trend observed in the fixed displacement indentation tests. Since the same microfracture process was observed to occur in both indentation and grinding, the absorbed indentation energy is proposed as a quantity for predicting the machining response of these glass-ceramics.