engleski

Low-Pressure Hydrogen Plasma Etching of FRC Postec

Aim: Today's dental posts are continually adapted for easy application in minimal time. Present study investigated optimal conditions needed for etching of FRC Postec (Ivoclar, Schaan, Liechtenstein) with low pressure plasma. Materials and methods: FRC Postec composite posts were etched using low pressure inductively coupled radio frequency hydrogen plasma produwithin borosilicate glass tube. Samples were treated at various plasma conditions: hydrogen gas pressure (10-50 Pa), and discharge powers (up 300 W). The effect of plasma treatment on the sample was monitored by JSM 7000-F Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) for element analysis. Results: The results of EDS analysis expressed as atomic % of C, O, F, Na, Si, P, Ca Zr, Yb within given sample area were used as control parameters of plasma treatment and compared with results obtained for untreated and classically treated samples. Particularly carbon and oxygen content changes evidently in comparison to non-treated sample. This allows optimization of plasma parameters in order to mimic the effects of acid etching. Typical values are shown in Table 1. Conclusion: The decrease in amount of carbon with simultaneous increase of oxygen content meets our hypothesis that etching with plasma has similar effect on composite posts as etching with acid and can be used as a substitute method. Further study including tensile strength analyses is underway to optimize plasma parameters. This study was supported by grants 065-0352851-0410, 035-0352851-2856 and 098-0982904-2952 of MZOS, Croatia.

low pressure plasma; etching; composite posts

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