Microwave sintering and fusion of low-fusing titanium body porcelain derived from sol–gel synthesis

ABSTRACTThe titanium body porcelain was synthesised through sol–gel using borate–silicate system. The porcelain was characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope and three-point flexure tests. The XRD and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) results showed that the porcelain was mainly amorphous. The SEM and TEM microphotographs showed that the shape of the porcelain particles was irregular and their sizes range from 5 to 25 μm, while there were no obvious pores on the porcelain surface. The flexure strength significantly increased from 18.9 to 70.6 MPa when the sintering temperature of the porcelain increased from 600 to 675°C and then slowly decreased to 49.1 MPa when the sintering temperature elevated to 700°C. The improvement of the strength was mainly due to the decrease of pores and increase of density. A closely bonded dense coating was fused on the Ti surface by microwave.