“…In addition, alumina has a thermal diffusivity (1.0 x 10 −5 m 2 sec −1 ) higher than that of zirconia (7.4 x 10 −7 m 2 sec −1 ), which allows alumina to be more effective in dissipating heat (Swain, 2009). Zirconia, with a lower thermal diffusivity, is more prone to generating high tensile residual stresses in the porcelain veneer, leading to premature veneer chipping or fracture, as theoretically predicted with flat specimens (Swain, 2009). However, alumina has a relatively low flexural strength, which makes alumina-based restorations susceptible to bulk fracture (Kelly, 1997;Oden et al, 1998;Hermann et al, 2006;Kokubo et al, 2009).…”