Relationship between Microstructure and Mechanical Strength of Dental Semiprecious Alloys Subjected to Solution Treatment

Silver alloy is one of semi-precious alloys for dental prosthesis, which has been applied remarkably in Japanese dental field. Ag-20Pd-17.7Cu-12Au alloy (G12), which was newly developed for commercial dental silver alloy, shows the unique hardening mechanism after a simple solution treatment (ST) at relatively high temperature. However, the relationship between ST at various temperature and the mechanical strength of G12 has not been investigated fully. Therefore, the relationship between ST and mechanical properties of G12 after ST at various temperatures was investigated systematically in this study. G12 subjected to ST at relatively high temperature of 1173 K is composed of three kinds of phases with Ag-rich α2 phase, Cu-rich α1 phase and β phase of Pd-Cu intermetallic compound. Although nominal melting point of G12 was around 1233 K, the high Cu concentration area like α1 phase was partially dissolved and then the α1, α2 and partial β phases re-precipitated during cooling. On the other hand, the microstructure of G12 aged at 673 K after ST at 1023 K (STA) was mainly composed of two kinds of phases with α2 and α1 phases with a small amount of β phase, which was a typical microstructure of STA. The Vickers hardness of G12 subjected to ST at 1173 K was identical to that of the same alloy subjected to STA although the tensile strength, fatigue limit and ductility deteriorated to some degrees. The corrosion potential of G12 changed drastically with the temperature of ST. The potential may have been increased by the decrease in the volume fraction of the α1 phase with relatively high Cu content.