Aim: This work was aimed to study the effect of alumina particle size, blasting pressure as well as thermocycling on the shear bond strength between zirconia ceramic and adhesive resin cement. Materials and Methods: Sixty five zirconia ceramic discs (Cercon® Smart ceramics) were utilized. A total number of 50 discs were divided into 5 groups (S1)-(S5) (n=10). Those discs were air abraded using different blasting pressures (0.05 MPa & 0.25 MPa) and different alumina particle sizes (50μm &110μm). The other 15 zirconia discs were selected as representative specimens for surface characterization via scanning electron microscope, obtaining crystalline phase identification by using X-ray diffraction and detecting average surface roughness (Ra) via environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM).SEM was performed to observe surface topography after sandblasting on 5 representative specimens from each of the main groups (S1)-(S5). XRD was utilized to detect tetragonal-monoclinic transformation after air abrasion.ESEM was utilized to detect average surface roughness (Ra) on representative samples from each group. Shear bond strength testing was performed on 50 zirconia specimens after cementing to resin composite cylinders using a self-adhesive resin cement (Rely™ X Unicem). Twenty five specimens were subjected to thermocycling using a mechanical thermocycler, for 1,500 cycles. Each cycle was from 5 °C to 55 °C with a dwell time of 30 seconds and transfer time of 5 seconds. The other 25 were not subjected to thermocycling. Shear bond strength was tested using a universal testing machine with a single chisel loading at 1mm/minute crosshead speed. Results: Data were submitted to a three way ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc test at P ≤ 0.001 level of significance. SEM micrographs revealed pits, flaws and micro-cracks on groups (S2)-(S5) compared to control group (S1). XRD of (S5) showed a tetragonal phase distribution of 94% and higher monoclinic phase 6%. Surface treated groups (S2)-(S5) ESEM images showed higher average surface roughness (Ra) when compared to as-sintered group (S1). SBS results showed that 0.25 MPa blasting pressure with 110μm alumina particle size elicited the highest shear bond strength values with and without thermocycling (12.78±1.44 MPa) and (19.84±2.43 MPa) respectively.Conclusions: 1.There is a direct relation between surface roughness and shear bond strength. 2. Blasting pressure of 0.25 MPa with 110μm particle size demonstrated a higher shear bond strength value than blasting pressure of 0.05 MPa with 50μm particle size. 3. High pressure and large abrasive particles induced t–m phase transformation. The air abrasion increases the roughness of Y-TZP ceramic surface. 4. Using a resin cement that contains an MDP monomer, combined with APA at 0.25MPa, a durable bonding to dental zirconia ceramic could be provided. Without air-abrasion, a durable bond to zirconia ceramic was difficult to be obtained even with the use of anMDP-containing resin cement 5. Thermal cycling is a significant variable for SBS in cases of utilizing small pressure values accompanied with small particle sizes.