Toward the mechanisms of surface texturing on the wear behavior of dental zirconia ceramics under dry and saliva lubricated conditions

This work aims to investigate the effectiveness of surface textures in improving the wear performance of 3Y-TZP zirconia ceramics and the operating mechanisms of surface textures under different lubrication conditions. A series of sliding wear tests against Si3N4 ceramics and 304 stainless steels were conducted under both the dry and artificial saliva lubricated conditions to quantify the effectiveness of the surface textures in terms of the friction coefficient, wear volume loss and wear morphologies. The results indicate that the surface textures have a significant impact on the friction and wear behaviors of 3Y-TZP zirconia ceramics. The operating mechanism of surface textures for the ceramic-ceramic pair is to decrease the actual contact area and act as a pocket for storing lubricants. While for the ceramic-steel pair, the wettability becomes a dominant factor. A hydrophilic surface is likely to form a liquid film onto the ceramic surface, resulting in a better lubricating state between the friction components.