CHAVES ET AL THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY

Effects of three soldering techniques on the strength of high-palladium alloy

solder joints
Marisol Chaves, DDS, MS,a Stanley G. Vermilyea, DMD, MS,b Efstratios
Papazoglou, DDS, MS,c and William A. Brantley, PhDd
College of Dentistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Statement of problem. Little information is available on the optimum technique for soldering high-
palladium alloys, which have gained considerable popularity for prosthodontic applications.
Purpose. The objective of this study was to compare the flexural stress at the proportional limit of four
noble dental alloy specimens soldered with torch, oven, and infrared techniques.
Materials and methods. The high-palladium alloys studied were Legacy XT (Jelenko), Freedom Plus
(Jelenko), and IS 85 (Williams/Ivoclar). A gold-palladium alloy, Olympia (Jelenko), served as the control.
Thirty round bars, 18 × 3 mm, were cast from each alloy, cut in half, aligned, and joined using Olympia
Pre solder (Jelenko) for the gas-oxygen torch and the infrared technique and Alboro LF solder (Jelenko)
for the oven technique. Each soldered bar was subjected to three-point bending, and the maximum elastic
stress or strength of the solder joint was calculated at the proportional limit. Data were analyzed by two-
way ANOVA and the Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch (REGW) multiple range test at the 0.05 level of signifi-
cance.
Results. There was no significant difference between torch and oven-soldering, but both were signifi-
cantly different from the infrared technique. ANOVA showed a significant difference between alloys, but
this difference could not be detected with the REGW test. SEM examination of the fracture surfaces
revealed grooves associated with the path of crack propagation. X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopic
analysis failed to detect copper in the solders, and there were no significant changes in the solder composi-
tions after the melting procedures.
Conclusions. All three techniques can yield satisfactory solder joints in high-palladium alloys. These
joints should be well-polished to achieve optimal strength. (J Prosthet Dent 1998;79:677-84.)

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
The results of this investigation indicate that the strengths of high-palladium alloy
joints properly prepared by the torch, oven, and infrared soldering techniques are ac-
ceptable for clinical use and have generally comparable values. The current results
also demonstrate the importance of having solder joints that are properly polished. The
apparent notch-sensitivity of solder joints in high-palladium alloy castings that con-
tain finishing grooves suggests that there should be some concern when cyclic loads are
applied over a clinically appropriate period of time.

This article is based on a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Gradu-
ate School of The Ohio State University, 1997.
H igh-palladium alloys have become popular for
the fabrication of metal ceramic restorations and im-
Presented at the AADR meeting in Orlando, Florida as a finalist for plant superstructures. Among the reasons for the great
the Arthur R. Frechette award competition, March 1997. Presented interest in these alloys are their cost, excellent mechani-
at the Carl O. Boucher Conference, April 1997.
Supported by the Greater New York Academy of Prosthodontics and
cal properties, and good bonding with dental porcelain.1
by NIDR Research Grant DE10147. The alloys and the investments used to fabricate cast
a
Senior Resident, Advanced Education Program in Prosthodontics. restorations are selected carefully to compensate for di-
b
Associate Professor and Chair, Section of Primary Care. mensional changes that occur during the fabrication pro-
c
Clinical Assistant Professor, Section of Restorative Dentistry, Prosth- cess. For three-unit prostheses, the marginal adaptation,
odontics and Endodontics; and Doctoral Graduate Student in Oral
Biology.
described by Ziebert et al.,2 was the same for soldered
d
Professor, Section of Restorative Dentistry, Prosthodontics and En- restorations or one-piece castings. However, Gegauff and
dodontics; and Director, Graduate Program in Dental Materials. Rosenstiel3 found that for three-unit fixed partial den-

JUNE 1998 THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY 677

THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY
Table I. Nominal compositions (wt%) of alloys*
Alloy Pd Cu Ga
Freedom Plus** 78 8.0 5.0
Legacy XT** 75.5 — 6.0
IS 85*** 82 — 6.0
Olympia** 38.5 — 1.5
*Values were obtained from the product information literature.
**J.F. Jelenko and Co., Armonk, N.Y.
***Williams Division/Ivoclar North America, Amherst, N.Y.
tures (FPDs), the best adaptation was produced after
soldering. Several studies have shown that, as the length
of the prosthesis increases or involves the curvature of
the arch, the potential for a poorly fitting prosthesis in-
creases.4-6 With the recent development of implant-re-
tained prostheses, which may often be long and may
need the use of increased amount of casting alloy, fabri-
cating a one-piece casting incorporating machined parts
and having these machined surfaces accurately and pas-
sively fit the implant superstructure becomes even more
difficult. As a result, the practitioner must have an ef-
fective method of compensating for poorly fitting cast-
ings.
Soldering provides a means of improving the fit of a
prosthesis and, at the same time, joining the components
rigidly.7 The strength of solder joints is of utmost impor-
tance for clinical success of the prostheses. Many studies
have reported measurements of tensile strength for sol-
der joints, with mixed results. Some investigators have
found that preceramic solder joints are stronger than
postceramic solder joints.8 Monday and Asgar9 and
Lorenzana et al.10 reported that there was no significant
difference in the ultimate tensile strength of postceramic
and preceramic solder joints. However, other authors11-13
indicated that the ultimate tensile strength of postceramic
solder joints was greater than that of preceramic solder
joints. Although tensile tests are useful in the evaluation
of soldering effectiveness, dental prostheses are subjected
mainly to flexural loading during clinical use.14 A popular
method to obtain the flexural strength of a material is
three-point bending, where a concentrated load is applied
to the center of a uniform beam that is supported near
each end. The flexural strength is often termed the modu-
lus of rupture or transverse strength.
In this study, torch, oven, and infrared soldering tech-
niques were compared for three high-palladium dental
alloys to determine the best method to join these met-
als. A well-known gold-palladium alloy served as a con-
trol for the experiments. A literature review indicated
that there are no published studies comparing these sol-
dering techniques for the high-palladium alloys.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The specimens were fabricated from polystyrene plas-
tic patterns used for the fabrication of tensile test speci-
678
CHAVES ET AL
In Au Ag Ru Sn
6.0 2.0 — <1.0 —
6.0 2.0 10.0 <1.0 —
3.5 2.5 2.5 — 3.5
8.5 51.5 — <1.0 —
mens according to ANSI/ADA Specification No. 5.15
The ends of the plastic patterns were cut with a dia-
mond disk, leaving round bars 3 mm in diameter and
20 mm in length. The specimens were then sprued with
wax (10 bars per casting ring) and invested with a car-
bon-free phosphate-bonded investment (High Span II,
J.F. Jelenko and Co., Armonk, N.Y.). The manufacturer’s
recommendations were followed for the special liquid-
to-powder ratio and burnout schedule for the invest-
ment.
The high-palladium alloys used to cast the specimens
were Freedom Plus, Legacy XT (Jelenko) and IS 85 (Wil-
liams/Ivoclar, Amherst, N.Y.). A gold-palladium alloy
(Olympia, Jelenko) served as the control. The alloy com-
positions (wt%) are provided in Table I. Melting was
performed with a multiorifice gas-oxygen torch, and the
alloys were cast with a broken arm centrifugal casting
machine. The castings were permitted to bench cool
before devestment. After air abrasion with 50 µm alu-
minum oxide, castings were numbered at each end and
randomly assigned to treatment groups. Specimens were
then sectioned at their midpoint with a low-speed dia-
mond saw (VR/50, Leco Corp., St. Joseph, Mich.) and
water coolant. After sectioning, the bars were ultrasoni-
cally cleaned with acetone and dried.
Corresponding halves of each casting were placed in
a lathe for proper alignment. A thickness gauge was used
to provide a 0.5 mm gap. Autopolymerizing resin (GC
Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) was used to unite the halves
of each bar. Each bar was then invested in a silicone
mold (Coltene, Whaledent Inc., Mahwah, N.J.) with Hi-
Heat soldering investment (Whip Mix, Louisville, Ky.).
The area to be soldered was left exposed during the in-
vesting procedure, and an airway was created under the
soldering area to provide uniform heating of the joint.
The invested blocks were preheated according to the
alloy manufacturer’s instructions or those of the solder-
ing equipment manufacturer (infrared technique). Olym-
pia Pre Solder (Jelenko) was chosen for the torch and
infrared-soldering groups, and Alboro LF solder
(Jelenko) for the oven technique groups.
For the torch-soldering, the investment blocks were
preheated to 1100° F, and a gas-oxygen torch with a
No. 2 orifice point was kept moving at an oblique angle
to the preheated investment surface. A strip of approxi-
VOLUME 79 NUMBER 6
CHAVES ET AL
mately 5 mm of solder was placed over the joint, and
the solder was allowed to flow through the gap.
The oven-soldering experimental groups were sub-
jected to the Vita Omega cycle (Vident, Baldwin Park,
Calif.) under vacuum for porcelain application (two
opaque bakes, two body bakes and a low glaze bake),
before the bar was cut with the diamond saw. After the
blocks were preheated in the oven, a 5 mm strip of fluxed
solder was placed in contact with the parts to be sol-
dered. Then the temperature in the oven was raised to
the melting temperature of the solder, allowing it to flow
through the joint space. The soldering procedure was
performed using the vacuum available with the porce-
lain furnace.
For the infrared-soldering groups, the preheated
blocks were placed on the platform of the infrared sol-
dering machine (Ney Infrared Unit, J.M. Ney Co.,
Bloomfield, Conn.). The invested specimen and the sol-
der strip were fluxed, and this solder strip was placed in
contact with the parts to be soldered. The joint area was
placed 1 mm below the alignment rod, and the infrared
lamp was activated and held at maximum level until the
solder flowed. The soldered specimens were permitted
to bench cool before devesting. The specimens were
cleaned of residual investment, and the solder joints were
finished flush with the remainder of the bar. Mounted
stones and rubber wheels were used with a low-speed
dental handpiece, and the bars and the handpiece were
attached to the lathe. The diameter of each soldered joint
was measured, and external defects for each specimen
were noted.
The specimens were subjected to a three-point flex-
ural load in a screw-driven mechanical testing machine
(model 4204, Instron Corp., Canton, Mass.) at a cross-
head speed of 0.25 mm per minute. The load and posi-
tion of the crosshead were recorded by means of a
Pentium personal computer, with the software program
Labview for Windows (National Instruments, Austin,
Texas) and a data acquisition card with a frequency of
1 Hz. The raw data from each test bar were stored in
the computer as a text file. The software program Excel
(Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.) was used to
plot and manipulate the data. The midspan flexural stress
was calculated at the proportional limit (just before the
point of initial nonlinear deformation as determined from
a graphic representation of load versus crosshead move-
ment) or at the point of failure, whichever was lower.
The equation used for the calculation of the maximum
elastic flexural stress (σmax) developed at the midpoint of
a centrally loaded round beam was as follows:
σmax = 8Fl/πd3
where F = load, l = distance between support points (test
span length of 12.5 mm) and d = diameter. This equa-
tion was developed from the well-known elastic flexure
formula σmax = Mc/I, where M is the maximum bend-
JUNE 1998
THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY
ing moment (Fl/4 for three-point bending), I is the
moment of inertia (πd4/64 for a circular cross-section),
and c is the radius of the bar.16
Ten test specimens were prepared for each combina-
tion of alloy and soldering technique for a total of 120
specimens. A power analysis17 performed on the experi-
mental data, assuming α = 0.05 and a power of 80%
(β = 0.20), indicated that a sample size of 10 would
show significant differences of 185 MPa in the mean
proportional limit or fracture stress between sample
groups. Bartlett’s test17 was performed to determine the
homogeneity of the variances for all of the specimen
groups, and the mean values of flexural stress (propor-
tional limit or fracture stress) values for all the groups
were ranked and subjected to two-way analysis of vari-
ance (ANOVA) to examine the overall effects of alloy
and soldering technique, as well as their interactions.
The mean values for the specimen groups were ranked,
and two-way ANOVA on the ranks18,19 showed that there
were highly significant differences between techniques.
The Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch (REGW) multiple
range test20 with a significance level of α = 0.05 was
used on the ranks to determine which specific specimen
groups were significantly different from each other. The
REGW test is considered to have less likelihood of Type
II statistical errors than the well-known Tukey multiple
range test. In addition, representative fracture surfaces
were randomly selected from each group and examined
with a SEM (JSM-820, Jeol Ltd., Tokyo, Japan).
The two solders were also melted individually using the
three techniques, embedded in epoxy resin, ground with
400 and 600 grit metallographic paper, and polished with
a series of alumina slurries (from 15 to 0.05 µm particle
size). Quantitative elemental composition information was
provided by x-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopic analyses
(EDS), using a Link eXL microanalysis system with a
PentaFET detector and an ultrathin window (Oxford In-
struments Group, High Wycombe, England) coupled to
the SEM. A similar procedure was performed for the as-
received unmelted solder, and the changes in the composi-
tions of the solders after the melting procedures were de-
termined.
RESULTS
The mean values with standard deviations of the pro-
portional limit for ductile solder joints or the fracture
strength of brittle solder joints for the various specimen
groups are summarized in Figure 1. Bartlett’s test showed
that the variances were significantly different from each
other. For this reason, the technique of ranking the ob-
servations was used. Two-way ANOVA on the ranks
showed that there were highly significant differences
between techniques and a significant difference between
alloys (Table II). There was no significant interaction
between the alloys and soldering techniques. The sensi-
tive REGW multiple range test showed that, even though
679
THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY
Fig. 1. Values of proportional limit or fracture strength for sol-
dered joints of high-palladium alloys obtained with three-point
bending test.
Fig. 2. SEM photomicrograph of fracture surface for oven-sol-
dered IS 85 specimen. (Bar = 1 µm.)
there were differences in the mean values for the four
alloys that ANOVA (Table II) indicated were significant
(p = 0.048), these differences were not statistically sig-
nificant when the results for the three soldering tech-
niques were pooled (Table III). The REGW test was
also used to analyze differences between the soldering
techniques used in this study where the results for the
four alloys were pooled. It showed no statistically sig-
nificant differences between the torch-soldering and
oven-soldering (Table IV). However, these two solder-
ing techniques were significantly different from the in-
frared-soldering technique. No specimen was rejected
from the statistical analysis after being fractured, regard-
less of the amount of porosity.
680
CHAVES ET AL
Fig. 3. SEM photomicrograph of fracture surface of IS 85 alloy
for oven-soldered specimen shows ductile fracture character-
istics of this alloy. (Bar = 10 µm.)
Fig. 4. SEM photomicrograph of torch-soldered Olympia speci-
men. (Bar = 1 mm.)
The specimens soldered with the oven technique sepa-
rated completely after being subjected to the three-point
bending test. No sign of bending or lines of fracture were
visually evident. The fracture path appeared to be com-
pletely flat, giving the impression that an adhesive frac-
ture had occurred between the parent metal and solder.
Flux was used on the oven-soldered specimens (as
recommended by the manufacturer) and on the infra-
red-soldered specimens because of the impossibility for
the solder to flow without the flux. The results showed
that the flux did not perceptibly affect the solderability
of the alloys, but further quantitative analysis of the ef-
fect of the flux would be useful.
Figure 2 is a photomicrograph of the fracture surface
for an oven-soldered IS 85 specimen. SEM examination
revealed that the specimen fractured cohesively through
the solder, even though visual examination suggested
VOLUME 79 NUMBER 6
CHAVES ET AL THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY

Table II. Two-way ANOVA results based on ranking the observations

Source DF ANOVA SS Mean square F value Prob. > F

Alloy 3 7784.65 2594.88333 2.72 0.04833

Technique 2 22231.95 11115.97500 11.63 0.00003
Alloy*technique 6 10776.10 1796.01667 1.88 0.09078
Error 108 103192.80 955.48889 — —

that separation was between the solder and alloy. An in- Table III. Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch test results for the alloys*
tergranular fracture surface can be seen as well, with Alloy Number of specimens Mean (MPa) REGW grouping
evident separation between some grains. This fracture
surface was characteristic of the solder. There was no Freedom Plus 30 902.40 A
evidence of microvoids or the dimpled rupture struc- Legacy XT 30 834.70 A
ture indicative of ductile fracture.21 IS 85 30 803.44 A
Olympia 30 800.64 A
Oven-soldered Olympia alloy specimens were also
randomly selected after fracture and observed at the same *Alloys with the same letter are not statistically different at the α =0.05 level.
range of magnifications used for the IS 85 specimens.
The fracture surfaces for these specimens were similar
to Figure 2, which would be expected because the same Table IV. Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch test results for the solder-
solder was used (Alboro LF), and the fracture mode was ing techniques*
again cohesive through the solder.
Technique Number of specimens Mean (MPa) REGW grouping
An area near the edge of an oven-soldered IS 85 speci-
men is depicted in Figure 3. This photomicrograph in- Torch 40 881.62 A
dicates that cohesive ductile fracture also occurred Oven 40 868.79 A
through the IS 85 alloy, because of the characteristic Infrared 40 755.48 B
dimpled rupture appearance resulting from the *Techniques with the same letter are not statistically different at the α = 0.05
microvoids. Previously, Stewart et al.22 found that this level.
alloy exhibited excellent ductility, as reported by the
manufacturer.
SEM photomicrographs of fractured solder joints for A low-magnification photomicrograph of an infrared-
Legacy XT and Freedom Plus specimens that had been soldered specimen of Olympia after fracture is shown in
oven-soldered showed characteristics similar to those of Figure 6. This photomicrograph shows that the princi-
the fractured solder joints for IS 85, which follows from pal path of fracture was in the alloy below the solder
the cohesive nature of the fracture process through the (white band in the center of the photomicrograph), i.e.,
same low-fusing solder. cohesive fracture through the alloy. Numerous voids in
The fracture of the torch-soldered and infrared-sol- the solder are also visible in Figure 6.
dered specimens visually appeared to have initiated at In the low-magnification photomicrograph (Fig. 4)
the tension side and propagated through the solder. Low- of a fractured Olympia specimen that had been torch
power SEM examination (Fig. 4) confirmed this obser- soldered, an indentation in the solder where the bend-
vation. For some of these specimens, fracture also oc- ing load was applied can be seen (center left edge of
curred through the parent metal, but no separation of photomicrograph). The width of the solder joint appears
the specimen halves was observed. In contrast, the oven- to be extended in a vertical direction near the right edge
soldered specimen halves of the alloys separated com- of the photomicrograph (toward the tension side in
pletely during testing. bending), due in part to crack propagation. However,
The fracture surface for a torch-soldered IS 85 speci- the indentation and this tapering suggest some ductility
men is depicted in Figure 5. Substantial porosity and a of the solder. These observations were also made for
rounded structure for the solder below a void are evi- another fractured specimen that had been soldered by
dent. Parallel grooves on the surface resulted from the the infrared technique.
experimental procedure of holding each soldered speci- X-ray EDS analyses were performed on the two sol-
men in the lathe and polishing with stone followed by ders to determine their compositions. It was found that
rubber wheel (with a handpiece). An association of the there was no copper in the composition of either solder.
fracture boundary with the polishing grooves is appar- The compositions of the solders before melting and af-
ent. This same pattern was observed on a representative ter the melting procedures with the three techniques
fracture surface of an infrared-soldered Legacy XT speci- are summarized in Table V. Only slight changes were
men. Again, there was a close association between the found in the compositions of the solders after the melt-
polishing grooves and the path of fracture in the solder. ing procedures.

JUNE 1998 681

THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY CHAVES ET AL

Fig. 5. SEM photomicrograph of torch-soldered IS 85 speci- Fig. 6. SEM photomicrograph of fracture path through parent
men demonstrates solder porosity. (Bar = 10 µm.) metal of infrared-soldered Olympia specimen. (Bar = 100 µm.)

Table V. Energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis (wt.%) for composition of solders

Solder Au Ag Zn Pd Sn

Alboro LF* 62.9 (0.1) 23.2 (0.5) 13.5 (0.7) — 0.4 (0.1)
Olympia Pre* 70.5 (0.3) 16.5 (0.5) 0.9 (0.2) 10.9 (0.4) 1.1 (0.1)
Alboro LF (oven)** 62.3 (0.6) 24.1 (0.6) 12.1 (0.5) 0.9 (0.4) 0.6 (0.2)
Olympia Pre (infrared)** 72.1 (0.1) 16.7 (0.4) — 10.3 (0.6) 0.9 (0.1)
Olympia Pre (torch)** 70.9 (0.8) 16.7 (0.5) — 10.3 (0.2) 1.3 (0.4)

*Solder as received from the manufacturer.

**Solder after melting by the indicated technique.
Entries are mean values with standard deviations in parentheses. Five analyses were performed on each type of solder and condition.

DISCUSSION
The development of the strength for a solder joint
involves melting, flowing, and wetting of the solder by
capillary forces between the parent metal and the sol-
der.23 All three techniques used in this study were con-
sidered to be acceptable for soldering the three repre-
sentative high-palladium alloys. It is important to con-
sider the expertise of the operator for achieving solder
joints of similar characteristics. The problems that have
been reported with the commonly used gas-oxygen torch
for soldering metal ceramic alloys are gas inclusions,
voids, improper melting of the solder, and excessive oxi-
dation of the pieces to be soldered.24 The main advan-
tages with this technique are the availability of the gas-
oxygen torch in the dental laboratories and the flexibil-
ity of this method for use with the preceramic and
postceramic solders.
It was initially expected that the torch soldering would
exhibit the greatest variation in results because of the rela-
tively poor control in the temperature during the solder-
ing procedure. However, this result was not always found.
For example, the flexural strength of the Olympia speci-
mens that were torch soldered had one of the smaller
standard deviations of all the groups (Fig. 1).
It has been previously noted that a power analysis
showed that the sample size of 10 used in this study
would be able to detect a significant difference (α = 0.05)
between specimen groups of approximately 185 MPa
with a power of 80% (β = 0.20). This difference was
approximately 28% greater than the pooled standard
deviation of 144 MPa for all 12 specimen groups. For
example, sample sizes of 15 and 41 would have been
required to show significant differences of 150 MPa and
90 MPa, respectively, at the same α and β levels, and
would have necessitated much larger numbers of 180
and 492 soldered specimens for the entire study. Al-
though a larger sample size might have revealed statisti-
cally significant differences between some additional
sample groups compared with the results obtained with
the current sample size, the general observations and
clinical recommendations from this study would not be
substantially altered.
An alternative approach to the conventional torch or
oven soldering is the use of an infrared heat source. In
the commercially available unit (Ney) used in this study,
infrared energy for soldering is supplied by a quartz-
iodine-tungsten-filament lamp. Similar to the gas-oxy-
gen torch, flux is required with the solder in this tech-

682 VOLUME 79 NUMBER 6

CHAVES ET AL
nique.25 Some of the reported advantages of infrared
soldering are lack of gas inclusions, limitation of heat-
ing area and less working time.25,26 Cheng et al.25 found
that solder joints of a cobalt-chromium base metal alloy
produced by infrared soldering had higher ultimate ten-
sile strength than those produced by the gas-oxygen
torch. Other investigators reported little difference in
joint integrity and strength, whether the thermal energy
was delivered by a torch flame or infrared apparatus.27,28
Most of the infrared solder joints in this study frac-
tured in a cohesive mode through the solder, but some
showed failure through the parent metal (Fig. 6). This
soldering technique requires meticulous control of the
focal point because, if this is not achieved, the solder
will melt unevenly and result in weaker joints, or not at
all. Careful attention to voltage fluctuations is necessary
when using the infrared unit, because such changes could
alter the efficiency of the soldering procedure. The speci-
mens soldered with the infrared technique were the weak-
est for each alloy (Fig. 1 and Table IV), but they were
judged to be sufficiently strong for dental prostheses.
Oven soldering (postceramic soldering) is the best
choice when porcelain application has been performed.
The maximum temperature can be controlled to allow
solder flow without distorting the porcelain. Staffanou
et al.11 observed that more consistent connectors, in
strength and size, were obtained with oven soldering
for a wide range of dental alloys, when compared with
torch soldering. Stade et al.29 demonstrated that joints
of similar or superior strength to the parent metal were
obtained when oven soldering was used. However, oven
soldering requires a well-calibrated oven to achieve the
proper temperature for melting the solder, and the sol-
der should contact both sides of the parent metal to be
soldered. This technique can only be used for
postceramic soldering, because most of the ovens do
not achieve temperatures necessar y to melt the
preceramic solder. In this study, all of the oven-sol-
dered joints principally fractured cohesively through
the solder and generally had few voids when observed
with the SEM.
Although all the alloys soldered well, producing joints
that were judged strong enough to resist intraoral forces,
SEM observations revealed that the fracture path of the
solder joints followed microscopic grooves produced by
the finishing procedures for the specimens. Another study
should be performed to examine the relationships be-
tween finishing procedures and strength of the solder
joints.
The general composition of dental solders is reported23
to consist primarily of the elements gold, silver, and cop-
per. However, as previously noted, no copper was de-
tected in the two solders used in this study (Table V).
Other components, such as zinc (found in both solders),
tin, and phosphorus, are included to reduce the fusion
temperature and improve flow.
JUNE 1998
THE JOURNAL OF PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY
CONCLUSIONS
Under the conditions of this study, the following con-
clusions were drawn.
1. All three techniques used in this study were judged
to be adequate for soldering high-palladium alloys.
2. Infrared soldering yielded the lowest values of flex-
ural strength among the three techniques used.
3. X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis in-
dicated that there is no copper in either of the two sol-
ders used.
4. Elemental energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis
also showed that there are only minor changes in the
composition of each solder after the melting procedures.
5. Microscopic grooves on finished specimens were
revealed by the scanning electron microscope to have a
close association with the paths of crack propagation.
This observation indicates that solder joints should be
well-polished to achieve optimal strength.
We thank John C. Mitchell, Senior Electron Microscopist, Depart-
ment of Geological Sciences, for expert technical assistance in per-
forming the SEM/EDS analyses.
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2. Ziebert GJ, Hurtado A, Glapa C, Schiffleger BE. Accuracy of one-piece cast-
ings, preceramic and postceramic soldering. J Prosthet Dent 1986;55:312-
7.
3. Gegauff A, Rosenstiel S. The seating of one-piece and soldered fixed partial
dentures. J Prosthet Dent 1989:62:292-7.
4. Bruce RW. Evaluation of multiple unit castings for fixed partial dentures. J
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Noteworthy Abstracts Microleakage of dentin-bonded crowns placed with differ-

of the ent luting materials
Current Literature Patel S, Saunders WP, Burke FJT. Am J Dent 1997;10:179-83.

Purpose. Microleakage at the margins of dentin-bonded crowns may be a cause of failure of these
types of restorations. This in vitro study assessed the microleakage of dentin-bonded porcelain
crowns placed with three luting materials.
Material and Methods. Forty-five teeth were prepared by reducing the occlusal surface by 2 mm;
removing the convexity from the mesial, buccal, distal, and lingual surfaces; and forming a knife-
edge finish line. One half of the cervical margin was placed on dentin/cementum and the remain-
der of the margin was placed on enamel. Individual crowns were fabricated in feldspathic porcelain
and then cemented to the teeth with three luting materials, according to manufacturers recommen-
dations. The teeth were stored in water for 2 weeks at 37° C before evaluating the microleakage
with a dye penetration technique. Teeth with crowns were immersed in a 2% solution of methylene
blue for 48 hours at 37° C. Specimens were then thermocycled while in the dye for an additional 6
hours. The teeth were then sectioned in a bucco lingual plane and examined at ×10 magnification
with a ranking criteria ranging from 0 = no leakage to 4 = dye penetration grater than two thirds of
the length of the restoration-tooth interface.
Results. All groups exhibited leakage at the dentin and enamel margins and at the restoration-
cement interface. There were significant differences in leakage at the enamel margins for the three
groups but not at the margins of the finished dentin.
Conclusions. The resin cement combinations were unable to prevent microleakage completely.
Although there was no significant difference in leakage at the margin in dentin for all three materi-
als, Mirage ABC/FLC did not perform as well at the enamel margin. 30 References. — ME
RAZZOOG

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