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Effect of Thermal Tempering on Strength and Crack Propagation Behavior of Feldspathic Porcelains
K.J. Anusavice and B. Hojjatie
J DENT RES 1991 70: 1009
DOI: 10.1177/00220345910700060201
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Effect of Thermal Tempering on Strength

and Crack Propagation Behavior of Feldspathic Porcelains
K.J. ANUSAVICE and B. HOJJATIE
Department of Dental Biomaterials, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0446

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that

tempering stress can retard the growth of surface cracks in
layered porcelain discs with variable levels of contraction mismatch. Porcelain discs, 16 mm in diameter and 2 mm thick,
were prepared with a 0.5-mm-thick layer of opaque porcelain
(0) and a 1.5-mm-thick layer of body porcelain (B). The materials were selected to produce contraction coefficient differences, ao-%, of + 3.2, + 0.7, -0.9, and -1.5 ppm/0C.
Body porcelain discs with a thickness of 2 mm were used as
the thermally compatible control specimens (Aa= 0). The discs
were fired to the maturing temperature of body porcelain (9820C)
and were then subjected to three cooling procedures: slow cooling
(SC) in a furnace, fast cooling (FC) in air, and tempering (T)
by blasting the surface of the body porcelain with compressed
and dried air for 90 s. The dimensions of cracks induced by a
Vickers microhardness indenter under a load of 4.9 N were
measured at baseline and six months after indentation at 80
points along diametral lines within the surface of body porcelain. In addition, biaxial flexure tests were performed to
determine the influence of mismatch and tempering on flexure
strength. The results of ANOVA indicate that crack dimensions were influenced significantly by the interaction of cooling rate and contraction mismatch (p<0.0001). Multiple contrast
analysis by the Tukey's HSD Test indicated that the crack
lengths of tempered specimens at baseline and six months were
significantly smaller (p <0.05) than the corresponding values
for the FC and SC specimens. For tempered specimens with
contraction differences of + 3.2, 0, and - 1.5 ppm/C, the
mean crack lengths during the six-month period increased by
10.8%, 8.3%, and 9.7%, respectively, compared with increases of 13.8%, 20.1%, and 15.9%, respectively, for the SC
specimens. Tempering treatment of the compatible discs
(Aa = 0) resulted in the highest mean flexure-strength value
of 116.2 MPa. This value was 2.6 times greater than the corresponding value for the slow-cooled specimens. These results
indicate that tempering by forced convective cooling in air
significantly strengthened bilayered discs and reduced the initial size of induced surface cracks. However, tempering stress
was less effective in reducing the propagation rate of induced
cracks.
J Dent Res 70(6):1009-1013, June, 1991

Introduction.
Previous methods for strengthening dental ceramics have been
based on (1) compressive stress induced in porcelain through
the use of a metal substrate with a contraction coefficient greater
than that of its porcelain veneer, (2) a glaze layer formed on
the external surface to minimize the influence of flaws, (3) a
glaze layer fired with a contraction coefficient lower than that
of the adjacent ceramic to produce a state of compressive stress
Received for publication June 15, 1990
Accepted for publication February 6, 1991
This study was supported by NIDR Grant No. DE06672.

within the porcelain surface (Creyke, 1968), and (4) ion-exchange strengthening that induces compressive stress within
the outer surface because of the substitution of larger for smaller
alkali cations. The glazing technique is now used routinely for
dental ceramics, although the stress states in glazed surfaces
have not been well-characterized. Thermal tempering, which
is a process of rapidly cooling a glass or ceramic to induce a
state of compression in the surface, is an attractive technique
for strengthening dental ceramics because the technique can
be easily performed in commercial dental laboratories and the
material surfaces are not degraded as a result of the tempering
treatment. However, viscous flow may occur if the initial tempering temperature is too high (Gardon, 1980).
Structural failures of metal-ceramic restorations still occur
despite the known success of specific products and reliable
techniques. The causes of these failures are often multifactorial
in nature and can be associated with non-uniform or large
porcelain/metal thicknesses ratios, thermal incompatibility stress
in metal-ceramic and ceramic-ceramic (layered) systems, the
presence of critical structural flaws, and non-standardized
processing techniques. Chemical and thermal strengthening
techniques have been shown to be effective in enhancing the
performance and longevity of some industrial glasses and ceramics. Doremus (1973) indicated that glasses can be strengthened by a factor of six for quench-hardening, 10 for ion
exchange, and 30 for etching. Ion-exchange strengthening of
feldspathic porcelains is a chemical process whereby large potassium ions are substituted in the surfaces of glasses and ceramics for smaller sodium ions, thereby creating a beneficial
state of compressive stress within the near-surface region. Dunn
et al. (1977) placed porcelain bars in a potassium nitrate (KN03)
molten salt bath for a period of four h at a temperature of
400'C and reported an increase in flexure strength of the specimens by a factor of two. Jones (1983) reported that immersing
glazed specimens of air-fired feldspathic porcelain bars into a
potassium bromide (KBr) salt bath at a temperature of 830'C
for a period of 12 min would result in an increase of the
modulus of rupture from 57.1 MPa (untreated) to 80.4 MPa.
However, strengthening by ion exchange in a molten salt bath
has not been used routinely for dental applications because of
the modest improvement in strength, compared with the disadvantages that include the hazards associated with molten salt
and the possible need for long exposure times in order for a
sufficient depth of compressive stress to be achieved.
The effectiveness of the tempering technique depends on
factors such as thermal contraction mismatch, initial cooling
temperature, heat transfer coefficients, specimen dimensions,
and flaw characteristics. Traditionally, residual stresses produced at the surface of a thermally-treated glass have been
determined by the use of the photo-elastic birefringence technique. However, measurements of these thermally-induced
stresses in ceramics cannot be based on this optical method
because of their inherent opacity. Strain gauge measurements
cannot be used because the fabrication temperatures are too
high. DeHoff and Anusavice (1989) developed an analytical
model that incorporated linear visco-elasticity and structural
relaxation effect to calculate transient and residual stresses in
1009

1010

J Dent Res June 1991

ANUSA VICE & HOJJA TIE

dental porcelain subjected to tempering. However, the results

were not compared with any experimental data.
Marshall and Lawn (1977, 1978a, b, and 1979) used the
microhardness indentation technique to create surface cracks
in order to analyze the surface stresses in ceramics. Gupta and
Jubb (1981) used this technique to measure the growth rate of
cracks in the presence of stress and moisture. Anusavice et al.
(1989, 1991) have shown that tempering of feldspathic porcelain can significantly reduce the size of cracks induced by a
microhardness indenter. The objective of this study was to test
the hypothesis that tempering stresses can retard the growth of
surface cracks in layered porcelain discs with variable states
of thermal contraction mismatch.

Materials and methods.

Experimental feldspathic porcelains with variable thermal
contraction mismatch were prepared by J.F. Jelenko and Co.
(Armonk, NY). We prepared these porcelains as circular discs
16 mm in diameter and 2 mm thick. Each disc consisted of a
0.5-mm-thick layer of opaque (0) porcelain and a 1.5-mmthick layer of body (B) porcelain. These thicknesses were controlled by grinding the surface of each layer with silicon carbide abrasives and subsequently measuring the thickness with
a micrometer. The thickness of the body (B) porcelain control
disc was 2 mm. Five specimens for each porcelain were prepared, also as rectangular bars (5 x 5 x 50.8 mm), and an
Orton Dilatometer (Orton Ceramic Foundation, Columbus, OH)
was used to measure the thermal contraction coefficient (a)
for each bar according to the ASTM standard (Designation
E228-71). The mean values of thermal contraction coefficients
for each porcelain were determined from contraction curves
for the specimens cooled from 500'C to 250C at a rate of 3YC/
min. Listed in Table 1 are the relative contraction differences
(ao-a%) of the four groups of opaque and body porcelain combinations and the all-body porcelain control.
The wet body porcelain was condensed into a cylindrical
brass mold (approximately 3.5 mm in depth) and vibrated with
a Vibra II handpiece (J.F. Jelenko and Co., Armonk, NY).
Excess moisture was blotted dry with a tissue. The surface of
the mold was trimmed flush with a straight-edge razor blade,
and the opaque porcelain was applied manually on this surface.
The specimens were dried in front of the open door of a Ney
Mark IV Digital furnace (J.M. Ney Company, Bloomfield,
CT) at an initial temperature of 6480C for ten min and were
then placed inside the furnace to be fired. The temperature of
the furnace was raised to a maximum temperature of 9820C at
a heating rate of 550C/min. The discs were ground on the
opaque- and body-porcelain surfaces with a Buehler polishing
wheel (Buehler Ltd., Lake Bluff, IL) and silicon carbide abrasive, beginning with 120-grit paper and ending with 600-grit
paper. After the layers were polished with 1-pim A1203 abrasive, the thickness of each layer was measured from the edge
of the disc by use of a micrometer with a tolerance of 0.01

mm. In a second firing cycle, the discs were fired to 982C

and then subjected to one of the three cooling methods: (1)
slow cooling (SC) by termination of power to the furnace, (2)
fast cooling (FC) by being quenched in ambient air, and (3)
tempering (T) by a compressed air blast directly upon the disc
immediately upon its removal from the furnace. A nozzle with
a 4-mm diameter (Anusavice et al., 1989) was placed 20 mm
above the disc surface, and dry compressed air was blasted on
one side of the disc at a pressure of 0.34 MPa for 90 s.
A temperature vs. time profile was determined for each of
the three cooling methods by a chromel-alumel (K type) thermocouple that was placed within the porcelain disc (prior to
being fired) with the tip positioned at a depth of 0.5 mm from
the center of one of the flat disc surfaces. The thermocouple
was interfaced with an IBM PC-XT microcomputer that recorded and plotted the thermal history for each of the three
cooling methods (SC, FC, and T). Beginning at the final firing
temperature of 982C, the ambient temperature of 25C was
reached after approximately four h for slow cooling (SC), 7.5
min for fast cooling (FC), and 30 s for tempering (T).
A Vickers indenter was applied to the body porcelain surfaces at a load of 4.9 N. Each disc was indented along four
diametral lines, each receiving 20 indentations spaced 300 pm
apart (Fig. 1). Thus, each disc received 80 indentations. Measurements of the crack length were made in the body porcelain
surface with a measuring microscope at a magnification of
20 x . Each reading was made 45 s after indentation (baseline)
to minimize errors in measurement of crack length (2c) due to
continuing crack propagation in the presence of residual indentation stress and environmental moisture. Additional measurements were made after the specimens were stored in our
laboratory for six months. The relative humidity of the air in
the laboratory was 55 + 2%, which was measured periodically
over the six-month period. The mean 2c-dimensions of the
radial "half-penny" cracks-which were measured at baseline
and six months for each of the five states of contraction mismatch and three cooling techniques -were analyzed by a threefactor analysis of variance (ANOVA). In order for the interaction effect of time, cooling rate, and contraction difference
to be examined, the Tukey (HSD) multiple-contrast analysis
was used at the 5% level of significance to determine the specific conditions that had a significant effect on the crack length
(2c).
The surface stress values (MPa) for the tempered (T) specimens were calculated according to relations proposed by Marshall and Lawn (1978a). From the five mismatch groups, only
three groups of porcelains with thermal contraction differences
of + 3.2, 0 (control), and - 1.5 were selected for biaxial flexure-strength testing. Six discs, 16 mm in diameter and 2 mm
in thickness, were prepared for each mismatch group and each
cooling condition. The discs were subjected to biaxial flexure
(piston-on-three-ball) under water at 3TC. Each disc was placed
upon three equidistant stainless-steel balls (3.2 mm in diameter) that lay upon the perimeter of a circle 10 mm in diameter
(Ban and Anusavice, 1990). The discs were loaded at the cen-

TABLE 1
THERMAL CONTRACTION CHARACTERISTICS OF PORCELAIN
SYSTEMS USED FOR EXPERIMENTAL DISCS
Mismatch
Porcelain
Body Porcelain
Opaque
aO-(XB (ppm/C)
ao (ppm/C)
aB (ppM/C)
+3.2
11.0
14.2
+0.7
13.5
14.2
0.0*
13.5
13.5*

13.5
12.6
13.5
12.0
as
a
control disc.
*Represents body porcelain

-0.9
-1.5

20INDETATIONSMINE

OUATSA
_(NOTDNWmm
ORAWN TO SCALE)
o
af2C

Fig. 1-Illustration of indentation sites.

THERMAL TEMPERING OF FELDSPATHIC PORCELAIN

Vol. 70 No. 6

1011

160
140
to
o

120

h._

L.
100

I--

z
z

wU

80

60

w
-J

4
C.)

40

20

+3.2

+0.7

-0.9

-1.5

+3.2

+0.7

-0.9

-1.5

Aa(ppm/0C)

ACI(ppm/'C)
Fig. 2-Mean crack length of tempered vs. fast-cooled specimens at
baseline and six months for each level of thermal contraction mismatch.

Fig. 3-Mean crack length of tempered vs. slow-cooled specimens at

baseline and six months for each level of thermal contraction mismatch.

ter of the top surface by means of a steel piston (with 1.2-mm

diameter flat-ground along the contacting surface) at a loading
rate of 0.5 mm/min until fracture occurred. This mode of flexure caused tensile failure to initiate at the center of the lower
at the
(tempered) surface of the disc. The failure stress,
center of the lower surface was calculated from the following

Results.

o,

equations developed by Marshall (1980) for the piston-on-threeball flexure test described by Wachtman et al. (1972):
AP
0c

= flexure strength
A = (3 / 4rr) [2 (1 + v) ln (a/r0*) + (1

v) (2a2

r.*2)/

2b2 + (1 + v)]

P = applied load at failure

v = Poisson's ratio. In this study, a value of 0.28 was used
for dental porcelain (Farah and Craig, 1975).
a = radius of the support circle
For small ro, as in this case: r0* = (1.6 r02 + t2)1/20.675t.
r. = radius of the piston at the contacting surface
b = radius of disc specimen
t = thickness of the disc specimen
The failure stress data were analyzed by two-factor ANOVA
and Tukey's Multiple Range Test to determine whether the
mean flexure-strength values were significantly influenced by
the cooling conditions and contraction differences.

Based on a three-factor analysis of variance, the influence

of the cooling technique and thermal contraction mismatch at
baseline and at six months and their interaction effect on the
crack length were highly significant (p<O.OOO1). Summarized
in Table 2 are the results of the Tukey's Multiple Contrast
analysis of the mean crack lengths (2c) and the 95% confidence
intervals corresponding to the baseline and six-month data for
the slow-cooled, fast-cooled, and tempered groups for the five
levels of contraction difference. Based on the Tukey test analysis, the mean crack length (pm) for each contraction mismatch
group was compared for the three cooling conditions at baseline and six months. Groups that are connected by the same
horizontal line were not significantly different from one another at the 0.05 level of confidence. The results shown in this
Table indicate that for a given contraction mismatch level, the
mean crack diameter at baseline for tempered discs (T) was
significantly smaller (p<0.05) than that of the corresponding
values for the slow-cooled (SC) and fast-cooled (FC) groups.
Except for the control discs (Aa = 0.0), there was no significant difference in crack length at baseline between SC and
FC groups. In each porcelain combination, the crack length
after six months for the tempered discs (T) was significantly
smaller than that of the SC and FC discs. There was no significant difference between mean values at six months of SC
and FC for contraction mismatch groups of + 3.2, + 0.7, and
- 1.5. Shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are the mean crack lengths for
the five levels of mismatch at baseline and six months, corre-

TABLE 2
RESULTS OF THE TUKEY TEST ANALYSIS AND 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR SLOW-COOLED (SC), FAST-COOLED (FC), AND
TEMPERED (T) SPECIMENS AT EACH LEVEL OF THERMAL CONTRACTION MISMATCH
Mean Crack Length (pm)
T
FC
SC
FC
SC
Aaa
Baseline
6 Months
Baseline
Baseline
6 Months
6 Months
(ppm/0C)
89.42.4
99.03.2
103.6 2.6
103.3 2.8
112.03.2
117.53.5
+3.2
81.22.1
89.92.9
101.63.3
102.12.9
126.3 5.7
125.04.8
+0.7
75.11.6
81.41.8
101.92.9
115.03.5
115.33.5
138.15.0
0.0
70.51.6
88.62.8
91.82.3
93.63.0
100.5 2.9
112.23.4
-0.9
75.81.8
83.22.1
91.63.0
91.92.4
101.42.5
106.53.2
-1.5
Values joined by horizontal lines are not significantly different at p = 0.05.

1012

J Dent Res June 1991

ANUSAVICE & HOJJA TIE

TABLE 3
TUKEY'S MULTIPLE CONTRAST ANALYSIS OF MEAN CRACK
LENGTH (pm) FOR THE THREE COOLING CONDITIONS AT
BASELINE AND SIX MONTHS AT EACH LEVEL OF
CONTRACTUAL MISMATCH
Mean Crack Length (I.m)
FC1
T2
SC1
SC2
Aa (ppm/C)
FC2
T,
112.0 103.3 103.7 99.0 89.4
117.5
+3.2
125.0 126.3 102.1 101.6 89.9 81.2
+0.7
138.1 115.3 115.0 101.9 81.4 75.1
0.0
88.6 91.8 70.5
93.6
100.5
112.2
-0.9
91.7 83.2 75.9
91.9
106.5 101.4
-1.5
1 = Baseline; 2 = Six months.
Groups that are joined by a horizontal line are not statistically different
at p = 0.05.

sponding to the tempered (T) vs. fast-cooled (FC) groups and

tempered (T) vs. slow-cooled (SC) groups, respectively. No
significant difference (p>0.05) existed between the crack lengths
of tempered specimens at baseline and six months for contraction mismatch levels of 0 and - 1.5 (Table 3). For each level
of contraction mismatch, the mean crack length at baseline for
tempered specimens was significantly smaller than that of the
corresponding values for the slow- and fast-cooled groups.
Similarly, the mean crack lengths at six months for tempered
specimens were significantly smaller than the values for slowcooled and fast-cooled cases.
The computed surface stresses in body porcelain for SC,
FC, and T groups were reported previously (Anusavice et al.,
1989) and are summarized in Table 4. The residual stress within
the body porcelain surface of slowly cooled discs was determined by finite element stress analysis and previously measured contraction data (25-500'C) for these experimental
porcelains. For the SC groups, the maximum compressive stress
(22.3 MPa) was produced in the disc with the smaller negative
mismatch (- 1.5 ppm/fC). The highest compressive stresses
for the FC group (46.3 MPa) and the T discs (109.5 MPa)
were associated with one of the negative mismatch cases
(Aa = - 0.9). Shown in Fig. 4 are the mean values of biaxial
flexure strength of slow-cooled, fast-cooled, and tempered
specimens for the three mismatch levels. Tempering treatment
of the compatible system (Aot = 0) resulted in the highest
mean strength value of 116.2 MPa. Shown in Fig. 5 are the
measured biaxial flexural strength and the calculated compressive residual stress at the surface of body porcelain as a func-

TABLE 4
COMPUTED SURFACE STRESSES* IN BODY PORCELAIN AS A
FUNCTION OF SLOW COOLING (SC), FAST COOLING (FC), and
TEMPERING (T)
x-aB (ppmPQC)
aFC (MPa)
cT (MPa)
as (MPa)
-34.5
-7.7
+47.5
+3.2
-64.1
-17.0
+10.4
+0.7
-86.7
-16.5
0.0
0.0
-109.5
-46.3
-13.4
-0.9
-83.5
-35.5
-22.3
-1.5
*DIsc values were determined from finite element analyses.
oaF< and aT were determined from the relation developed by Marshall
and Lawn (1979).
Negative values of stress represent a state of compression.
Positive values of stress represent a state of tension.

tion of contraction mismatch for the tempered and fast-cooled

specimens. The surface stresses were calculated by use of the
crack-size data and an equation developed by Marshall and
Lawn (1978a).

Discussion.
The initial crack length that develops at the surfaces of bilayered porcelain structures with variable levels of contraction
mismatch can be reduced significantly by tempering. As shown
in Table 2, the tempering treatment significantly reduced the
crack size compared with the slow-cooling and fast-cooling
treatments at both baseline and six months for all porcelain
combinations. Therefore, it can be inferred that tempering significantly increased the resistance to crack development and
crack propagation of bilayered porcelain structures, independent of the magnitude of contraction mismatch. The mean crack
lengths of tempered specimens for the mismatch levels of - 0.9,
+ 0.7, and + 3.2 ppmPC at six months were significantly greater
(p <0.05) than those at baseline. Therefore, it appears that
tempering stress was less effective in reducing the propagation
rates of induced cracks.
The crack lengths at six months (Table 2) indicate that the
influence of the cooling method was greater than that of thermal contraction mismatch. It appears that tempering stresses
tend to dominate incompatibility stresses at the surface of the
porcelain, independent of the magnitude of contraction mismatch. Incompatibility stresses that develop because of con140 F

X 120
-

0-

W
cc

_10

TSTRENGTH

---_._--- T RESIDUAL
FC STRENGTH
*
----o--- FC RESIDUAL

uW 80 IF
cc:

X 60
w

IL
4
x

40

-J
L.

'

O.

An"*

2n
MU

t~~~~~~-

-2

Fig. 4-Biaxial flexure strength of slow-cooled, fast-cooled, and tempered specimens.

.1

CONTRACTION MISMATCH (ppm/PC)

Fig. 5-Measured flexure strengths and calculated surface stress due to
fast cooling and tempering.

Vol. 70 No. 6

THERMAL TEMPERING OF FELDSPATHIC PORCELAIN

traction differences can have a significant overall effect on

surface stresses and the crack growth potential within these
surfaces. However, the influence of cooling rate on the overall
stress state within the surface was not a dominant factor in the
development of compressive stresses until an extremely high
cooling rate (tempering) was imposed.
As shown in Fig. 4, the biaxial flexure strength for the
tempered porcelain as a function of contraction mismatch indicates that the body porcelain (control) group was associated
with the largest strength value of 116.2 MPa. The biaxial flexure-strength values were calculated by assuming a Poisson's
ratio of 0.28 (Farah and Craig, 1975) for dental porcelain.
However, different values have been reported in other papers.
KAse and Tesk (1985) utilized the sonic resonance technique
to determine the elastic properties of two dental porcelains.
They reported a Poisson's ratio of 0.19 for each porcelain at
room temperature. For determination of the influence of Poisson's ratio on biaxial flexure strength, a parametric analysis
was conducted in this study. This analysis showed that a 50%
reduction in Poisson's ratio for porcelain (with 0.14 used instead of 0.28) resulted in a maximum reduction of only 10%
in surface-flexure stress values.
The mean values of flexure strength for tempered and fastcooled specimens were higher for the negative mismatch group
(- 1.5), compared with the positive mismatch group of + 3.2
ppm/0C (Fig. 4). The data in Table 2 indicate that the crack
lengths for the - 1.5 ppm/C mismatch groups were significantly smaller (p < 0.05) than those for the + 3.2 ppm/C mismatch groups in all three cooling conditions. Therefore, it
appears that the results obtained from the microhardness indentation test correlate well with those from the biaxial flexurestrength measurements. This correlation is demonstrated in Fig.
5. Flexure tests were conducted only for mismatch levels of
1.5, 0, and + 3.2 ppm/0C. The mean values of measured
strength (solid lines) and the calculated residual stresses (dotted
lines) from Table 4 for tempered and fast-cooled specimens as
a function of contraction mismatch were plotted in the same
graph. This similarity between the flexural-strength and compressive stress curves corresponding to each cooling condition
is an indication of the validity of the Marshall and Lawn equation (1979). This equation can predict the amount of compressive surface stress induced by the tempering treatment and
may also be used as an indication of the strength enhancement
effect of tempering. Although the biaxial flexure-strength measurements were not made for the -0.9 and + 0.7 ppm/C
mismatch cases, these values can probably be approximated
fairly well from Fig. 5.
The major conclusion of this study is that the resistance of
the porcelain surface to crack initiation and the overall strength
of the porcelain can be improved by tempering. However,
relatively large variances of the data suggest that the tempering
process is technique-sensitive. It should be emphasized that
the analysis of surface stresses by use of microhardness indentation data was performed on 80 cracks induced in the surface
of one specimen. Under this experimental condition, variations
in voids and porosities within specimens were not considered.
Perhaps the experimental design could have been improved if
the 80 indentations had been distributed across a number of
discs. Although feldspathic porcelain is generally used with a
metal substrate, the opaque-body porcelain specimens in this
-

1013

study were chosen to simplify the analysis of stresses produced

by tempering. Further studies are continuing on metal-ceramic
specimens and tempering by ion exchange.

Acknowledgments.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mr.
Paul Cascone of J.F. Jelenko & Co. for preparing the experimental porcelain formulations used in this study. The assistance of Ms. Anna Gray in the measurement of crack dimensions
is also appreciated.
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ANUSAVICE, K.J.; GRAY, A.; and SHEN, C. (1991): Influence
of Initial Flaw Size on Crack Growth in Air-tempered Porcelain,
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BAN, S. and ANUSAVICE, K.J. (1990): Influence of Test Method
on Failure Stress of Brittle Dental Materials, J Dent Res 69:17911799.
CREYKE, W.E.C. (1968): Delayed Fracture of Glazed Porcelain,
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DEHOFF, P.H. and ANUSAVICE, K.J. (1989): Tempering Stresses
in Feldspathic Porcelain, J Dent Res 68:134-138.
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