Evaluation of shear bond strength of porcelain bonded to laser welded titanium surface and determination of mode of bond failure.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength of porcelain to laser welded titanium surface and to determine the mode of bond failure through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrophotometry (EDS). Forty five cast rectangular titanium specimens with the dimension of 10 mm x 8 mm x 1 mm were tested. Thirty specimens had a perforation of 2 mm diameter in the centre. These were randomly divided into Group A and B. The perforations in the Group B specimens were repaired by laser welding using Cp Grade II titanium wire. The remaining 15 specimens were taken as control group. All the test specimens were layered with low fusing porcelain and tested for shear bond strength. The debonded specimens were subjected to SEM and EDS. Data were analysed with 1-way analysis of variance and Student's t-test for comparison among the different groups. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no statistically significant difference in shear bond strength values at a 5% level of confidence. The mean shear bond strength values for control group, Group A and B was 8.4 +/- 0.5 Mpa, 8.1 +/- 0.4 Mpa and 8.3 +/- 0.3 Mpa respectively. SEM/EDS analysis of the specimens showed mixed and cohesive type of bond failure. Within the limitations of the study laser welding did not have any effect on the shear bond strength of porcelain bonded to titanium.