Microstructural development during crystallization firing of a dental-grade nanostructured lithia-zirconia glass-ceramic

• The crystallization sequence and microstructural development during firing of a dental-grade lithia-zirconia glass-ceramic is elucidated. • The milling blocks are fabricated from glass ingots formulated with 16 different elemental oxides, and are poorly pre-crystallized glass-ceramics with Li2SiO3 nanocrystals embedded in abundant partially de-polymerized glass. • During firing, the glassy matrix first reacts with part of the Li 2 SiO 3 to...