Effect of Zirconia Silica Nanofibers on Flexural Strength of Feldspathic Ceramic - An Experimental Study

BACKGROUND: Dental ceramics exhibit good optical and esthetic properties due to their translucency. Feldspathic ceramic is the most widely used veneering ceramic with brittleness, which accounts for most of its failure. Hence, this study was done to evaluate and compare the flexural strength of feldspathic ceramic reinforced with zirconia-silica nanofibers in the ratio of 2.5, 5, and 7.5 wt% with conventional feldspathic ceramic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: According to ISO 6872, a master die was prepared from which resin bars were fabricated with 4.0 mm in width × 1.2 mm thickness × 25.0 mm length, Zirconia-silica nanofibers were produced by sol-gel electrospinning go around with calcination and blended with feldspathic ceramic through ball milling method. The samples were prepared with 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 wt% nanofibers reinforced ceramic. The flexural strength of the samples was evaluated using three-point bending test. RESULTS: The flexural strength values of zirconia-silica nanofibers reinforced ceramic groups were higher than control group. There was a gradual increase in the flexural strength values of felspathic ceramic groups with increase in wt% of nanofibers. CONCLUSION: The flexural strength of feldspathic ceramic samples reinforced with zirconia-silica nanofibers by 5 and 7.5 wt% were statistically significant compared to control, whereas the flexural strength of 2.5 wt% was statistically insignificant compared to the control group.