Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the analysis of zirconia crystalline phase transformation

This study aimed to validate the Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the analysis of the transformed zone of two dental zirconia-based materials after hydrothermal ageing and correlate the values with biaxial flexural strength. Kinetics of tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation (t→m) was calculated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed a sigmoidal transformation rate over time due to the limited X-ray maximum penetration depth. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and OCT showed a linear relationship between the thickness of the transformed layer and the ageing time. The apparent activation energy was 104.5 kJ/mol and 106.7 kJ/mol (SEM) and 106 kJ/mol and 99.4 kJ/mol (OCT) for the infrastructure and monolithic dental zirconia, respectively. Mechanical strength decreased after 150 h. of ageing at 150 °C for both materials showing a correlation with the depth of the transformed zone observed by OCT. Therefore, both monoclinic phase percentage and the depth of the transformed layer are critical concerning zirconia mechanical properties upon hydrothermal ageing. OCT is a non-destructive, fast, innovative, and accurate method for the analysis of zirconia's t→m phase transformation depth kinetics after hydrothermal ageing.