Influence of the nanostructural characteristics of inorganic fillers on the physical properties of resin cements

Abstract

Light-curing resin cements, each comprising one of five different inorganic fillers (non-porous and porous spherical SiO2 particles, irregularly shaped glass and ZrO2 particles, and porous ZrO2 spheres), monomers, and polymerization initiators were prepared to determine the effect of filler morphology on the adhesive strength of the resin cement. The strength of adhesion to a computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) resin block was investigated mechanically by measuring the tensile bond strength, flexural strength, and elastic modulus. The resin cement containing sub-micron porous ZrO2 spheres had significantly higher tensile bond strength than the other resin cements. The resin cement containing the porous ZrO2 spheres had markedly lower flexural strength and elastic modulus values than the resin cements containing SiO2 and glass fillers.