Characteristics of glass ionomer cements composed of glass powders in CaO-SrO-ZnO-SiO₂ system prepared by two different synthetic routes.

Glass ionomer cements (GICs) are composed of an acid degradable glass, polyacrylic acid and water. Sol-gel processing to prepare the glass phase has certain advantages, such as the ability to employ lower synthesis temperatures than melt quenching and glasses that are reported to have higher purity. A previous study reported the effects of glass synthesis route on GIC fabrication. However, in that study, the sol-gel derived glass exhibited a reduced concentration of cations. This study investigates increasing the cation content of a sol-gel derived glass, 12CaO.4SrO.36ZnO.48SiO2 (molar ratio) by heating before aging to reduce dissolution of cations. This glass was prepared by both sol-gel and melt-quenched routes. GICs were subsequently prepared using both glasses. The resultant cement based on the sol-gel derived glass had a shorter working time than the cement based on the melt-quenched one. Contrary to this, setting time was considerably longer for the cement based on the sol-gel derived glass than for the cement based on the melt-quenched one. The cements based on the sol-gel derived glass were stronger in both compression and biaxial flexure than the cements prepared from the melt-quenched glass. The differences in setting and mechanical properties were associated with both cation content in the glass phase and the different surface area of the resultant cements.