Fatigue behavior and surface characterization of a Y-TZP after laboratory grinding and regeneration firing

This study evaluated the effect of grinding and regeneration firing on the flexural fatigue limit and surface characterization of Lava™ Y-TZP ceramic. Forty bar-shaped specimens with 20 × 4.0 × 1.2 mm constituted the as-sintered group (AS = control group), and 80 specimens with 20 × 4.0 × 1.5 mm were ground with cylindrical laboratory stone under water-cooling (WG) or in a dry condition (G) to reach 1.2 mm in thickness. Half of specimens were submitted to regeneration firing (1000 °C, 30 min), forming the groups AS/R, WG/R and G/R. Fatigue limit (500,000 cycles, 10 Hz) was determined by staircase method in a 4-point flexural fixture. Data were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD tests (α = 0.05). The surface topography (n = 3) and fracture area (n = 3) were evaluated by SEM. Samples were also analyzed by Rietveld refinement from X-ray diffraction data. ANOVA revealed significant differences (P AS>G (P