Hardness and compressive strength of indirect composite resins: effects of immersion in distilled water

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ageing in distilled water on the hardness and compressive strength of a direct composite resin Z100, a feldspatic porcelain (Noritake) and three indirect composites (Artglass, Solidex and Targis). For the Vickers hardness tests, five disk-shaped specimens (2 x 4 mm) of each material were prepared according to the manufacturers' instructions. The hardness tests were conducted using a Vickers diamond indentor. Compressive strength measurements were recorded on cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 12 mm. The compression tests were carried out with a constant cross-head speed of 0.5 mm min(-1) on a mechanical test machine. For each material, 10 specimens were tested after 7 days of dry storage at 37 +/- 1 degreesC and 10 specimens were tested after water storage at 37 +/- 1 degreesC for 180 days. Noritake porcelain specimens showed higher hardness values than the composites. Among the composite materials, Z100 promoted the highest VHN values, regardless of the ageing periods. The results showed that Solidex and Z100 had the highest compressive strength values. Ageing in water reduced the hardness for all composites, but had no long-term effect on the compressive strength.

Flexural strength of autopolymerizing denture reline resins with microwave postpolymerization treatment

Statement of problem. Microwave postpolymerization has been Suggested as a method to improve the mechanical strength of repaired denture base materials. However, the effect of microwave heating oil the flexural strength of the autopolymerizing denture reline resins has not been investigated.Purpose. This study analyzed the effect of microwave postpolymerization on the flexural strength of 4 autopolymerizing reline resins (Duraliner II, Kooliner, Ufi Gel Hard, and Tokuso Rebase Fast) and 1 heat-polymerized resin (Lucitone 550).Material and methods. For each material, 80 specimens (64 X 10 X 3.3 mm) were polymerized according to the manufacturer's instructions and divided into 10 groups (n = 8). Control group specimens remained as processed. Before testing, the specimens were Subjected to postpolymerization in a microwave oven using different power (500, 5,50, or 650 W) and time (3, 4, or 5 Minutes) settings. Load measurements (newtons) were made at a crosshead speed of 5 mm/min using a 3-point bending device with a span of 50 mill. The flexural strength values were calculated in MPa. Data analyses included 3-way and 2-way analysis of variance and the Tukey Honestly Significant Difference test (alpha=.05).Results. The flexural strengths of resins Duraliner 11 and Kooliner were significantly increased (P=.0015 and P=.0046, respectively) with the application of microwave irradiation using different time/power combinations. The materials Lucitone 550, Tokuso Rebase Fast, and Ufi Gel Hard demonstrated no significant strength improvement compared to the corresponding control. Only after microwave postpolymerization irradiation for 3 minutes at 550 W did Lucitione 550 show significantly higher flexural strength than Tokuso Rebase Fast and Ufi Gel Hard relining resins.Conclusion. Microwave postpolymerization irradiation can be an effective method for increasing the flexural strength of Duraliner II (at 650 W) and Kooliner (at 550 W and 650 W for 5 minutes).

Surface conditioning of a composite used for inlay/onlay restorations: Effect on mu TBS to resin cement

Purpose: To assess the effect of the composite surface conditioning on the microtensile bond strength of a resin cement to a composite used for inlay/onlay restorations.Materials and Methods: Forty-two blocks (6 x 6 x 4 mm) of a microfilled composite (Vita VMLC) were produced and divided into 3 groups (N = 14) by composite surface conditioning methods: Gr1 - etching with 37% phosphoric acid, washing, drying, silanization; Gr2 - air abrasion with 50-Im Al203 particles, silanization; Gr3 - chairside tribochemiCal silica coating (CoJet System), silanization. Single-Bond (one-step adhesive) was applied on the conditioned surfaces and the two resin blocks treated with the same method were cemented using RelyX ARC (dual-curing resin cement). The specimens were stored for 7 days in water at 37 degrees C and then sectioned to produce nontrimmed beam samples, which were submitted to microtensile bond strength testing (mu TBS). For statistical analysis (one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test, = 0.05), the means of the beam samples from each luted specimen were calculated (n = 7).Results: mu TBS values (MPa) of Gr2 (62.0 +/- 3.9a) and Gr3 (60.5 +/- 7.9a) were statistically similar to each other and higher than Gr1 (38.2 +/- 8.9b). The analysis of the fractured surfaces revealed that all failures occurred at the adhesive zone.Conclusion: Conditioning methods with 50-Im Al203 or tribochemical silica coating allowed bonding between resin and composite that was statistically similar and stronger than conditioning with acid etching.

Tensile strength of radio frequency cold plasma treated PET fibers - Part 1: Influence of environment and treatment time

This article reports on a series of experiments with polyethylene terepthalate (PET) treated in a radio frequency plasma reactor using argon and oxygen as a gas fuel, for treatment times equal to 5 s, 20 s, 30 s, and 100 s. The mechanical strength modification of PET fibers, evaluated by tensile tests on monofilaments, showed that oxygen and argon plasma treatment resulted in a decrease in the average tensile strength compared with the untreated fibers. This reduction in tensile strength is more significant for argon plasma and is very sensitive to the treatment time for oxygen plasma. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) used to analyze the effects of cold plasma treatment on fiber surfaces indicates differences in roughness profiles depending on the type of treatments, which were associated with variations in mechanical strength. Differences in the roughness profile, surveyed through an image analysis method, provided the distance of roughness interval, D-ri. This parameter represents the number of peaks contained in a unit length and was introduced to correlate fiber surface condition, before and after cold plasma treatments, and average tensile strength. Statistical analysis of experimental data, using Weibull cumulative distribution and linear representation, was performed to explain influences of treatment time and environmental effects on mechanical properties. The shape parameter, alpha, and density parameter, beta, from the Weibull distribution function were used to indicate the experimental data range and to confirm the mechanical performance obtained experimentally.