저널

The fit between dental implant fixture and zirconia abutment is affected by many variables during the fabrication process by CAD/CAM program and milling working. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the surface compatibility and electrochemical behaviors of zirconia abutment for prosthodontics. Zirconia abutments were prepared and fabricated using zirconia block and milling machine. For stabilization of zirconia abutments, sintering was carried out at $1500^{circ}F$ for 7 hrs. The specimens were cut and polished for gap observation. The gap between dental implant fixture and zirconia abutment was observed using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The hardness and corrosion resistance of zirconia abutments were observed with vickers hardness tester and potentiostat. The gap between dental implant fixture and zirconia abutment was $5{sim}12{mu}m$ for small gap, and $40{sim}60{mu}m$ for large gap. The hardness of zirconia surface was 1275.5 Hv and showed micro-machined scratch on the surface. The corrosion potentials of zirconia abutment/fixture was .290 mV and metal abutment/fixture was .280 mV, whereas $|E_{pit}-E_{corr}|$ of zirconia abutment/fixture (172 mV) was higher than that of metal abutment/fixture (150 mV). The corrosion morphology of metal abutment/fixture showed the many pit on the surface in compared with zirconia abutment/fixture.

Surface compatibility;Electrochemical behaviors;Zirconia abutment/fixture;