Rolling ball contact as a method for testing surface fatigue of resin based restorative materials

Noor Hayaty Abu Kasim Abu Kasim N.H., Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry Building, University of Malaya

Abstract

It has been recognised that compressive, tensile and flexural strength do not accurately determine the durability of dental restorations and that fatigue induced failure plays an important role. Fatigue caused by cyclic loading is thought to be responsible for the failure of composites restorations described by chipping, localized or generalized wear and fracture. The main aim of this work is to develop and evaluate the rolling ball contact as a method for testing surface fatigue of resin-based restorative materials. The results showed that material loss during the testing period mimic that of a fatigue failure process occurring in rolling elements. The rolling ball contact method proved to be a simple and reproducible method for testing fatigue in dental composites.