A influência do sistema de envelhecimento artificial acelerado (EAA) na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas das resinas compostas Z250, Filtek Supreme, 4 Seasons, Herculite, P60, Tetric Ceram, Charisma e Filtek Z100 foi investigada. Os compósitos foram caracterizados por espectroscopia de infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR) e análises térmicas (calorimetria exploratória diferencial - DSC e termogravimetria - TG). A microestrutura dos materiais foi analisada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Os dados de dureza superficial e resistência à compressão foram registados para as resinas e os valores médios foram submetidos ao teste de Kolmogorov-Smirnov (p>0,05), ANOVA e teste de Tukey (α=0,05). Os resultados mostraram diferenças significativas entre as marcas comerciais em termos de dureza (F=86,74, p<0,0001) e resistência à compressão (F=40,31, p<0,0001), mas o EAA não afetou as propriedades (dureza superficial: F=0,39, p=0,53, resistência à compressão: F=2,82, p=0,09) de qualquer uma das resinas. FTIR, DSC e análise de TG revelou que a polimerização da resina foi completa, e não houve diferenças entre os espectros e os perfis de curva térmica dos materiais obtidos, antes e depois de EAA. TG mostrou a ausência de compostos voláteis e evidenciou uma boa estabilidade térmica até 200 °C, e quantidades similares de resíduos foram encontradas em todas as resinas avaliadas, antes e depois de EAA. O tratamento de EAA não afetou significativamente a superfície das resinas. Portanto, independentemente do tipo de resina, o EAA não influenciou a microestrutura e as propriedades mecânicas.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of accelerated artificial aging (AAA) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Filtek Z250, Filtek Supreme, 4 Seasons, Herculite, P60, Tetric Ceram, Charisma and Filtek Z100. composite resins. The composites were characterized by Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal analyses (Differential Scanning Calorimetry - DSC and Thermogravimetry - TG). The microstructure of the materials was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Surface hardness and compressive strength data of the resins were recorded and the mean values were analyzed statistically by ANOVA and Tukey's test (α=0.05). The results showed significant differences among the commercial brands for surface hardness (F=86.74, p<0.0001) and compressive strength (F=40.31, p<0.0001), but AAA did not affect the properties (surface hardness: F=0.39, p=0.53; compressive strength: F=2.82, p=0.09) of any of the composite resins. FTIR, DSC and TG analyses showed that resin polymerization was complete, and there were no differences between the spectra and thermal curve profiles of the materials obtained before and after AAA. TG confirmed the absence of volatile compounds and evidenced good thermal stability up to 200 °C, and similar amounts of residues were found in all resins evaluated before and after AAA. The AAA treatment did not significantly affect resin surface. Therefore, regardless of the resin brand, AAA did not influence the microstructure or the mechanical properties.

This study evaluated the effect of artificially accelerated aging (AAA) on the surface hardness of eight composite resins: Filtek Z250, Filtek Supreme, 4 Seasons, Herculite, P60, Tetric Ceram, Charisma, and Filtek Z100. Sixteen specimens were made from the test piece of each material, using an 8.0 × 2.0 mm teflon matrix. After 24 hours, eight specimens from each material were submitted to three surface hardness readings using a Shimadzu Microhardness Tester for 5 seconds at a load of 50 gf. The other eight specimens remained in the artificially accelerated aging machine for 382 hours and were submitted to the same surface hardness analysis. The means of each test specimen were submitted to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (p > 0.05), ANOVA and Tukey test (p < 0.05). With regard to hardness (F = 86.74, p < 0.0001) the analysis showed significant differences among the resin composite brands. But aging did not influence the hardness of any of the resin composites (F = 0.39, p = 0.53). In this study, there was interaction between the resin composite brand and the aging factors (F = 4.51, p < 0.0002). It was concluded that notwithstanding the type of resin, AAA did not influence surface hardness. However, with regard to hardness there was a significant difference among the resin brands.