Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To characterize the effect of crevice corrosion on the strength of dental silver amalgam as determined by the Hertzian 'ball on disc' method, with a view to providing a test method for use in standards compliance testing.
MATERIALS & METHODS
Sixteen dental silver amalgam products were tested using the 'ball on disc' protocol at 30 d after setting at 37°C in air or immersed in artificial saliva at pH 6.2. The mixed materials were packed into a tapered steel disc mold (10 mm diameter, 3 mm thick) resting on a glass surface, slightly overfilled and carved level with a sharp edge, then ejected at ∼10 min and placed immediately into an incubator at 37°C. For corrosion specimens, the disc was laid on a flat polystyrene surface, immersed in artificial saliva, to create a spontaneous crevice corrosion cell. Testing was in Hertzian mode, using a 20 mm steel ball, with the specimen resting on a disc of glass-filled polyamide (E=10 GPa) at a cross-head speed of 0.2 mm/min on a universal testing machine (E3000, Instron). The load at first crack was recorded, as was the number of radial cracks produced.
RESULTS
Radial cracking into 2-4 pieces, in a clinically relevant (non-explosive) mode was observed in all cases. On average, corrosion caused a decrease in load at failure of ∼10%, although the interaction with alloy (analysis of variance) was significant (P∼0.03) indicating variation between products. Comparison of the 30 d dry (uncorroded) results with those at 24h obtained earlier showed that there was highly significant increase on average (P∼5×10(-12)), but again a significant variation between products (P∼5×10(-6)), the maximum effect being +22%.
SIGNIFICANCE
The ball-on-disc test provides a facile means of ascertaining the sensitivity of dental silver amalgam to corrosion under clinically relevant conditions, and is viable as a standards compliance test.
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