Effects of heat treatment temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of lithium disilicate-based glass-ceramics

Abstract In this study, the mechanical properties and microstructure of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics in the Li2O-SiO2-P2O5-Al2O3-K2O glass ceramics was investigated for dental applications. The glass-ceramics were prepared from the casting glass melt into warmed mold. After that the samples were heat treatment at 650–850 °C for 2 h. The heat treatment temperatures were determined from the differential thermal analysis (DTA). The microstructure of the glass–ceramics were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the mechanical properties were investigated by Vickers hardness testing. Results indicated that the samples confirmed the occurrence of Li2Si2O5, LiSi2O3 Li3PO4 and LiAlSi2O6 phases in prepared glass ceramics. Moreover, the lithium disilicate glass-ceramic exhibits a high Vickers hardness values in the range of 4.92–5.90 GPa.