Zolid Zirconia – Dental dreams are made of this

The material is backed by a decade of experience in the development and in-house production of zirconia for restorations. Amann Girrbach laid the foundation stone 10 years ago with the ZI blanks for copy milling. Since then, more than 10 million units have been produced from Amann Girrbach zirconia blanks worldwide. The extremely high quality is reflected in the virtually negligible complaint rate of < 0.1 % (Risk Management Report Amann Girrbach 2017). The excellent material properties of Zolid products are also reflected in several studies that underline the clinical evidence for the products.

In the Scientific Compendium, a part of the new Clinical Guide for the Zolid DNA Generation, the results of several external studies are compiled and clearly summarized. They reflect the excellent properties of the blanks from Amann Girrbach and provide additional scientific certainty.

In the following you can review two of these summaries. The full version of the Clinical Guide is available on http://www.amanngirrbach.com

Flexural strength, fracture toughness and translucency of cubic/tetragonal zirconia materials

Material:         Zolid FX

Keywords:      Flexural strength, fracture toughness, translucency, zirconium       oxide,lithium disilicate

Location:        Munich, Germany

Authors:         P. Zadeh, N. Lümkemann, B. Sener, M. Eichberger, B. Stawarczyk

Published in:  The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 2018

Original paper: Flexural strength, fracture toughness and translucency of cubic/tetragonal   zirconia materials

Objective of the study

Comparison of the mechanical and optical properties of cubic/tetragonal zirconium oxides with lithium disilicate ceramics

Materials and method

Six different zirconia (Zolid FX, Amann Girrbach; CopraSmile, Whitepeaks Dental Solutions; DD cubeX2, Dental Direkt; NOVAZIR MaxT, Novadent Dentaltechnik; Priti multidisc ZrO2, Pritidenta; StarCeram Z-Smile, H.C. Stark) were investigated together with a lithium disilicate ceramic (IPS e.max Press LT A2, Ivoclar Vivadent AG) as control group. The 4-point flexural strength (N=105 /n=15) and the fracture toughness (N=105 /n=15) (DIN EN ISO 6872) were measured in each case. Furthermore, the translucency (N=70 /n=10) was investigated using an ultraviolet spectrometer. In addition, a grain size analysis (N=6 / n=1) of the zirconium oxides was conducted with a scanning electron microscope. Statistical evaluation was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, a multifactorial analysis, a one-way ANOVA, followed by posthoc-Scheffé, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. In addition, a Weibull analysis was performed using the maximum likelihood method at a confidence interval of 95 % (_ = 0.05).

Summary and conclusion

Zolid FX achieves the highest average flexural strength (557 ± 88 MPa) of all tested materials (see Fig. 1). With a Weibull module of 6.9, the material proves to be one of the three most reliable materials in the investigations. In terms of optical properties, Zolid FX achieves the highest translucency (38.3 ± 0.3 %) of the investigated zirconium oxides (see Fig. 2). Only lithium disilicate ceramic achieved higher measured values (40.4 ± 0.4 %). The fracture toughness test shows that Zolid FX demonstrates a higher fracture toughness with an average value of 3.56 ± 0.47 MPa*Âm than the tested lithium disilicate ceramic (2.10 ± 0.14 MPa*Âm). Zolid FX thus achieves higher mechanical properties than the lithium disilicate ceramic tested and exhibits the highest flexural strength and translucency of all zirconium oxides tested.

Four-point flexural strength of five different cubic/tetragonal zirconia materials

Material:                     Zolid HT+ Preshade A4, Zolid FX

Keywords:                  4-point flexural strength

Location:                     Munich, Germany

Authors:                      B. Stawarczyk

Published in:              Study sponsored by Amann Girrbach at the LMU University Munich, April 2018

Original paper:           Four-point flexural strength of five different cubic/tetragonal zirconia materials

Objective of the study

Comparison of the 4-point flexural strength of different zirconia materials

Materials and method

Five different zirconium oxides of the 4th generation were tested with flexural strengths of Class 5 (> 800 MPa, DIN ISO 6872) (Argen Z HT+, Argen; Zolid HT+, Amann Girrbach; DD cubeX2 HS, Dental Direkt; IPS e.max ZirCAD/MT BL, Ivoclar Vivadent; NexxZr+, Sagemax). In addition, a pre-stained 4th generation zirconium oxide (Zolid HT+ Preshade A4, Amann Girrbach) and an unstained third generation zirconium oxide with a flexural strength of Class 4 (> 500 MPa, DIN ISO 6872) (Zolid FF, Amann Girrbach) were tested. For each material, 15 specimens were milled for the 4-point flexural test (Ceramill Motion 2, Amann Girrbach). The flexural bending test was conducted with a universal testing machine until the specimen fractured. The test series were evaluated using descriptive statistics with the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann-Whitney test.

Summary and conclusion

Zolid HT+ achieves the highest flexural strength (801 ± 129 MPa) on average compared to the other measured zirconium oxide materials. The pre-stained Zolid HT+ Preshade A4 material achieves the third highest flexural strength of 698 ± 129 MPa. The Class 4 Zolid FX material achieves lower flexural strengths than the Class 5 materials, but with (510 ± 100 MPa) lies within the normative required range for Class 4. The highest Weibull module of 11.7 is achieved by Zolid HT+ Preshade A4. As a result, the material shows the highest reliability. In general, it should be noted that the determination of the flexural strength always depends on the specimen preparation and the respective evaluation method. This can lead to deviations from the manufacturer‘s data.