초록
Statement of the problem : IPS Empress ceramic has been used as one of a esthetic restorative material since it's development, but the broad application of IPS Empress ceramic to clinical prosthodontic field has been limited by its high material cost. Purpose : This study was investigated to evaluate the hardness and fracture toughness after recycling of the IPS Empress ceramic. Material and methods : Reused specimens of IPS Empress were fabricated with repeated pressing. The hardness(Vickers hardness) and fracture toughness of 1st, 2nd and 3rd pressed specimens were measured with Digital Micro Hardness Tester(Model MXT70, Matsuzawa Seiki Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan). The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS(Ver 9.5). Result : The mean value of the hardness in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd pressed Empress were $6.23{\pm}0.48MPa,\;5.50{\pm}0.25MPa$, and $5.70{\pm}0.42MPa$. The hardness of the 1st pressing ceramic was higher than those or the 2nd and 3rd pressed ceramics(P<0.05). Hardness of the 3rd pressed ceramic was greater than that of the 2nd pressed ceramic. but there was no significant difference of hardness between those two(P>0.05). The mean value of the fracture toughness was $1.71{\pm}0.16MPam^{1/2}$ in 1st pressed ceramic, $1.78{\pm}0.10MPam^{1/2}$ in 2nd pressed and $1.73{\pm}0.14MPam^{1/2}$ in 3rd pressed IPS ceramic. Fracture toughness of the 2nd pressed ceramic was the highest and that of the 1st pressed ceramic was the lowest. There was no significant difference of fracture toughness among them(P>0.05). Conclusion : Hardness of the 2nd and 3rd pressed IPS Empress ceramics were lesser than that of 1st pressed IPS Empress ceramic(P<0.05), but there was no significant changes of fracture toughness among them(P>0.05).