Comparative Study of Chemical and Mechanical Surface Treatment Effects on Shear Bond Strength of PEEK to Veneering Ceramic

Purpose: To assess the shear bond strength of composite resin to poly(etheretherketone) (PEEK) after mechanical and chemical surface treatments. Materials and Methods: A total of 48 PEEK discs were fabricated and divided equally into four surface treatment groups (n = 12 each): (1) airborne-particle abrasion (APA) with 50-mu m alumina particles at 2-MPa pressure for 10 seconds; (2) 98% sulfuric acid etching for 1 minute; (3) APA + sulfuric acid etching; and (4) no surface treatment. Specimens were conditioned, and then veneering composite resin was applied to the PEEK surfaces and polymerized. Bond strength was measured using a universal testing machine. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test were applied for statistical analysis. Results: The mean shear bond strength values of the sulfuric acid etching group were higher than that of the APA + acid etching, APA, and control groups (P < .05). Mean shear bond strength values for the APA + acid etching samples were higher than for the control and APA groups (P <.05). Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the samples treated with APA and the control group. The bond strength was highest when PEEK was prepared with sulfuric acid etching alone.