Oct 31 2007
Morgan Advanced Ceramics is supplying leading dental technology company, Ivoclar Vivadent, with bespoke Silicon Nitride components for use with its innovative IPS e.max system to produce dental restorations (bridges and crowns). For optimum strength, the tooth is fired and the unique thermal properties of the Silicon Nitride help to control cooling and prevent cracking.
Ivoclar Vivadent’s IPS e.max is an all-ceramic system combining different materials that allows dentists and dental technicians to create strong and accurate replacement bridges and crowns. Depending on the material those restorations can be fabricated not only in the dental lab, but also directly at the chairside.
Using computer aided design techniques, users mill “soft” Lithium Disilicate blocks to precise specifications, then fire (crystallize) them in a special furnace to complete the hardening process. This process is highly important and needs to be carried out with precision. Once cool these restorations have a strength of 360MPa, high fracture toughness and offer new possibilities for the cementation of the all ceramic restorations.
Morgan Advanced Ceramics is supplying Silicon Nitride trays and pins used to support the restorations in the furnace during the crystallization process. To obtain the optimal strength and toughness it is important that the Lithium Disilicate cools in a controlled manner. Silicon Nitride is an effective material to facilitate this, because of its unique thermal properties the restoration can cool in a manner that would not have been possible using traditional honeycomb trays and metal pins.
When confronted by the challenge of adding a completely new range of products for the extension of the IPS e.max range earlier this year, Morgan Advanced Ceramics’ 20+ years of manufacturing experience with Silicon Nitride came to the fore. Morgan used precision injection moulding to make the geometrically complex pins. The trays are precision machined. Using these methods Morgan Advanced Ceramics now supply Ivoclar Vivadent with 40-60,000 pins and 2000 trays per year.
“Ivoclar presented us with a very difficult task that needed to be completed in a short timescale. It was a fantastic collaborative effort and everyone rose to the challenge to get these highly complex components ready in time.” said Dr. Chris Jackson, Sales Engineer for Morgan Advanced Ceramics.
Sibylle Hummel, Product Manager All Ceramics–CAD/CAM for Ivoclar Vivadent said “Morgan’s Silicon Nitride components and the IPS e.max processes provide the dental industry with finished restorations that exceed anything that could previously be produced.”
Silicon Nitride’s thermal shock resistance and high wear resistance make it the material of choice for many applications. Silicon Nitride can go from extreme high to cold temperatures repeatedly without reducing its effectiveness, and is also much harder wearing and durable than alternative materials. Silicon Nitride is used in a variety of applications including welding nozzles, cutting tools and glow plugs. The material can be manufactured using many techniques, including Morgan Advanced Ceramics’ freeze casting method, which has greatly expanded the range of industrial applications.