Effect of alumina air-abrasion on mechanical bonding between an acrylic resin and casting alloys

This study examined the effect of alumina air-abrasion with different pressure on bonding between an acrylic resin and casting alloys. Disk specimens (8 and 10 mm in diameter) were cast from a silver- palladium-copper-gold (Ag-Pd-Cu-Au, Castwell M.C.12) alloy and a titanium-aluminum-niobium alloy (Ti-6Al-7Nb, T-Alloy Tough). The disks were air- abraded with alumina particles (50-70 µm) under different air-pressures (0 unabraded, 0.1, and 0.6 MPa). The disk pairs were bonded together with a tri-n- butylborane (TBB)-initiated acrylic resin, and shear bond strengths were determined both before and after thermocycling. Bond strength varied from a maximum of 37.1 MPa to a minimum of 3.6 MPa for the Ag-Pd- Cu-Au alloy, whereas bond strength to Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy ranged from 34.7 MPa to 0.1 MPa. Specimens abraded with 0.6 MPa pressure recorded the greatest post-thermocycling bond strength (21.7 MPa and 17.9 MPa), and unabraded specimens showed the lowest strength (3.6 MPa and 0.1 MPa) for both alloys. Post- thermocycling bond strength to the Ag-Pd-Cu-Au alloy was higher than that to the Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy under identical air-abrading conditions. It can be concluded that alumina air-abrasion with an air-pressure of 0.6 MPa is effective in enhancing retentive characteristics of the TBB-initiated resin joined to the alloys. (J Oral Sci 51, 161-166, 2009)