Effects of PEEK surface treatment using alumina blasting or concentrated sulfuric acid etching in combination with functional monomers on shear bond strength to adhesive cement after artificial aging

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of surface treatment methods using polyetheretherketone (PEEK) (with or without a functional monomer-containing primer following treatment with alumina blasting or concentrated sulfuric acid) on the shear bond strength (SBS) of resin luting material after artificial aging. The PEEK specimens were classified into five groups according to their treatment methods: untreated, alumina blasting (AB), concentrated sulfuric acid (SA), alumina blasting+primer (ABP), and concentrated SA+primer (SAP). The SBS score of each group was determined experimentally using a universal testing machine. The SBS tests revealed that the initial bond strengths of ABP and SAP were significantly higher than those of AB and SA. In addition, both SBS after 20,000 thermal cycles remained high (>15 MPa). These results suggest that the ABP and SAP groups are the best predictive methods for evaluating SBS with PEEK and resin cement.