Purpose: The present in vitro study examined 3 mechanical properties, namely compressive, flexural, and diametral tensile strength, of various commercially available cements and core materials as a function of time after mixing.
Materials and methods: The examined materials were 2 cermet cements (Ketac Silver [ESPE, Seefeld, Germany] and Chelon Silver [ESPE]), 1 metal-reinforced glass ionomer cement (Miracle Mix [GC Dental Industrial Corp, Tokyo, Japan]), 2 conventional glass ionomer cements (Ketac Bond [ESPE] and Ketac Cem [ESPE]), 1 standard cure zinc phosphate cement (Harvard Cement [Richter and Hoffmann, Berlin, Germany]), and 1 zinc phosphate cement with the addition of 30% silver amalgam alloy powder (Harvard Cement 70% with Dispersalloy 30% [Richter and Hoffmann/Johnson and Johnson, East Windsor, NJ]). Properties were measured using a universal testing machine at 15 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours after first mixing.
Results: Compressive strengths varied widely between the 3 times of measurement from 5.8 +/- 6.6 MPa for Ketac Cem to 144.3 +/- 10.2 MPa for Ketac Silver. Twenty-four hours after mixing, the Bonferroni test showed significant (p <or= .01) differences between Ketac Silver and all other materials tested. Diametral tensile strengths ranged widely from 4.4 +/- 0.9 MPa for Ketac Cem to 11.5 +/- 2.2 MPa for Chelon Silver. At 15 minutes, 1 hour, and 24 hours after first mixing, the analysis of variance did not show any significant differences between Ketac Silver, Chelon Silver, and Miracle Mix. The 3-point flexural strength of Ketac Silver showed, at 15 minutes with 13.5 +/- 3.9 MPa and at 24 hours with 27.2 +/- 7.4 MPa, the highest values.
Conclusions: Setting time influences the mechanical properties of the materials tested in this study. Ketac Silver, a glass ionomer cement reinforced with sintered glass-silver particles, showed the highest mechanical properties of the examined materials.
Copyright 2001 by The American College of Prosthodontists.