Low-temperature degradation of yttria-stabilized zirconia treated with pulsed laser and annealing techniques

Low-temperature degradation (LTD) is a progressive degradation following tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation in a water environment, and it represents a problem for the long-term integrity of zirconia implants. However, there is little documentation on the low-temperature degradation characteristics of zirconia with surface treatment. We investigated the LTD properties of such systems to assess the influence of surface treatment using nanosecond (thermal) and picosecond (less thermal) pulsed lasers, as well as an additional annealing process. The nanosecond and picosecond pulsed lasers generated periodic structures on the surfaces of tetragonal zirconia polycrystals stabilized with 3 mol% yttria (Y-TZP).