The effects of thermocycling on the flexural strength and flexural modulus of modern resin-based filling materials

Objective: Evaluation of flexural strengths and flexural moduli of hybrids, packables, ormocers, compomers and flowables prior to, and after, thermocycling. Materials and methods: Twenty specimens, size (25 ± 2) mm × (2 ± 0.1) mm × (2 ± 0.1) mm, of Herculite (HE), Point 4 (P4), TetricCeram (TC), Miris (MI), TetricCeram HB, (HB), Solitaire 2 (SO), Surefil A (SU), Definte (DE), Admira (AD), Dyract AP (DY), Compoglass (CO) and TetricFlow (TF) were made according to ISO 4049. A three-point-bending test was carried out for the first 10 specimens after 24 h water storage at 37 °C and for the second 10 specimens after 30-day water storage at 37 °C, followed by 5000 thermocycles between +5 and +55 °C. For each test series flexural strengths and flexural moduli were calculated. Statistical significance was p <0.05. Results: Flexural strengths of DY and CO missed the 80 MPa limit of ISO 4049 for occlusal fillings prior to and after thermocycling. AD missed it after thermocycling. HE, P4, TC, MI, HB, SO, SU, DE and TF did not significantly differ prior to and after thermocycling. Flexural strength of SO and AD significantly decreased after thermocycling. No change of the flexural moduli could be observed for any of the test materials. Only SU exceeded 10,000 MPa prior to and after thermocycling. Significance: Only DY and CO missed the flexural strength limit of ISO 4049 for occlusal fillings. Only SU exceeded a flexural modulus of 10,000 MPa prior to and after thermocycling.