Impact of the light-curing source and curing time on the degree of conversion and hardness of a composite

Abstract

Adequate physical properties of the resinous materials are related to clinical longevity of adhesive restorations. The aim of this investigation was to assess the impact of light-curing source and curing time on the degree of conversion (DC) and Knoop hardness number (KHN) of a composite resin. Circular specimens (5 x 2 mm) were carried out (n = 7) of the Filtek Z250 (3M ESPE) composite. The specimens were light-cured by quartz-halogen-tungsten (QTH) XL 3000 (3M ESPE, 450 mW/cm2) or light-emitting diode (LED) Bluephase 16i (Vivadent, 1390 mW/cm2) for 20, 40, or 60 s. After 24 h, absorption spectra of composite were obtained using Spectrum 100 Optica (Perkin Elmer) FT-IR spectrometer in order to calculate the DC and, KHN was performed in the HMV-2T (Shimadzu) microhardness tester under 50-g load for 15 s dwell time. DC and KHN data were subjected to 2-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test at a pre-set alpha of 0.05. The LED showed highest DC and KHN values than QTH (p < 0.05). The increase of curing time improved the DC and KHN, all curing times with statistical difference (p < 0.05). The use of light-curing units with high irradiance and/or the time of cure increased may improve the physical properties of resin-based materials.