Material investigation for manufacturing of reference step gauges for CT scanning verification

This work deals with the study of stability and material investigation for manufacturing of step gauges for CT scanning verification. Four replica step gauges were fabricated using a bisacryl material for dental applications and the stability over five months was monitored using a tactile CMM. The material was unstable, probably due to a modification of the chemical composition which lowered the hardness.

New step gauges were manufactured through milling. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and Polyp-phenylenesulphide (PPS with 40% glass) fulfil the requirements regarding hardness and mechanical properties and two series of five step gauges (one series for each material) were manufactured by milling. Results show a significant improvement in terms of form stability and surface geometry quality of the new step gauges with respect to the replica step gauges in Luxabite, as reported below.