Effect of solarization on mechanical properties of lithium silicate glass-ceramics

The effect of solarization on crystallization and mechanical properties of lithium silicate-based glass-ceramics containing photosensitive elements of Ce, Sb, Sn, and Ag was investigated. The glass-ceramics were characterized by using differential thermal analysis (DTA), x-ray diffractometry (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The solarization was performed by irradiation of x-ray on the glasses. Solarization of glasses led to more sharp patterns of lithium metasilicate in the XRD analysis of the heat-treated glass-ceramics. Moreover, while the irradiated glasses after heat treatment had fine texture, the non-irradiated ones showed coarse texture, caused by surface crystallization. The mean 3-point flexural strength and micro-hardness of resulted glass-ceramics was increased considerably by solarization; however, the Weibull modulus did not change significantly.