Influence of grinding parameters on phase transformation, surface roughness, and grinding cost of bioceramic partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) using diamond grinding wheel

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of various grinding parameters on the phase transformation, surface roughness, G-ratio, grinding cost, and specific grinding energy of partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) using different diamond grinding wheels. The use of PSZ ceramic in dental applications has significantly increased in recent years due to excellent mechanical and biological properties. Considering the extreme hardness and brittleness of PSZ besides achieving dimensional and geometrical accuracies, grinding becomes an essential process. PSZ blocks are ground using four different diamond grinding wheels and grinding forces are measured during the grinding process. Next, PSZ phase transformation is analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface roughness; furthermore, wheel wear and grinding cost analysis are performed. All samples subjected to grinding reveal an increase in monoclinic phase content. From the surface integrity point of view, processing the images of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) from the specimens subjected to the grinding with a metal bond diamond grinding wheel shows 12% higher surface integrity. Additionally, it is shown that grinding in an optimum condition could enhance the surface roughness more than 60%. To find this optimum condition as well as to establish a mathematical relationship between inputs and outputs, response surface method (RSM) is employed. The obtained R-square value for the mathematical model is more than 0.90, which confirms the precision of the model.