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Cergo (DeguDent, Hanau, Germany) dental ceramics were heat-pressed followed the manufacture's instruction. Whole-spectrum direct-reading inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrograph and ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer were used to characterize the chemical composition. X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope were used to characterize the crystal form and morphology. Thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyzer was applied to elucidate the crystallization kinetics. The mechanical properties (microhardness and density) were measured. The data were analyzed with equal variance followed by two-sample t tests, and significant increase was found (P<0.05). Tetragonal leucite crystals were found embedded in the glass matrix after heat-pressing.
heat-pressing, dental ceramics, microstructure, Cergo