Abstract
To investigate the effect of silica fillers on the mechanical properties of visible light-cured composite resins, Bis-GMA-based composites with four types of silica fillers were prepared.The mechanical properties of the composites with splinter-shaped silica fillers increased with increasing the filler fraction.Although the spherical silica filler could be filled more with resin monomer than the splinter-shaped silica filler, the mechanical properties of spherical silicafilled composite were relatively lower than those of the composite with splinter-shaped silica fillers.The micro particle silica-filled composite showed no obvious increase in the mechanical properties in either the dry or wet conditions. SEM observations of the fractured resin surface revealed that fracture occurred through the resin matrix as well as the resin/filler interface and the mechanical properties of each composite resin were correlated with the nature of crack propagation.
