The surface roughness, morphology and shear bond strength (SBS) of dental zirconia using three different surface treatment techniques were evaluated. Three groups of sintered zirconia blocks were treated as follow, 1) Airborne-particle abrasion (APA) group (G1-APA), 50-µm Al2O3; 2) APA and 9% hydrofluoric acid etching (G2-HF); 3) APA and Sodium Hydroxide (G3-NaOH). The specimens were evaluated for roughness [atomic force microscope (AFM)], morphology [Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)] and for SBS in the universal testing machine. The AFM revealed changes in the roughness after the surface treatments, however there was not Ra difference between groups, SEM analysis revealed changes in surface morphology for all surface treated specimens. For SBS, significant difference was found between G1-APA=8.4±2.7 MPa and G2-HF=3.3±0.6 MPa (p<0.05) and G2-HF and G3-NaOH=9.0±3.0 MPa (p<0.05). The main fracture mode was mixed failure (63%) for G1-APA and G3-NaOH groups. G2-HF showed 100% adhesive failure. SBS was improved with NaOH, however application of HF significantly decreased SBS.
Keywords: Acid treatment; Adhesion; Alkaline treatment; Surface treatment; Zirconia.