The effects of cyclic loading on flexural strength and wear resistance of injectable and conventional resin composites
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Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the flexural strength and wear resistance of injectable and conventional resin composites after cyclic loading.
Materials and Methods: Three resin composites were evaluated: Filtek Z350XT (FZX), Beautifil Injectable X (BIX), and G-aenial Universal Injectable (GUI). Mini-flexural bar specimens (12 × 2 × 2 mm) were fabricated using Teflon molds and light-cured with a polywave LED unit. After 24 hours storage in a light-proof container, half of the specimens were tested directly, while the remaining half underwent cyclic loading (2.25 N, 60 Hz, 250,000 cycles) in distilled water. Flexural strength was determined using a three-point bending test with a 10-mm span at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Wear resistance was assessed by wear volume loss measurement after cyclic loading.
Results: FZX showed the highest flexural strength under both non-cyclic and cyclic conditions (159.30 ± 5.66 MPa and 147.50 ± 9.12 MPa, respectively). The injectable composites demonstrated lower flexural strength values, with GUI showing slightly higher values than BIX. Cyclic loading reduced the flexural strength of all tested materials. For wear resistance, FZX exhibited the lowest wear volume loss (0.009±0.001 mm³), whereas BIX and GUI showed higher values (0.028 ± 0.008 mm³ and 0.033 ± 0.011 mm³, respectively), with no significant difference between the two injectable composites. The correlation analysis demonstrated a moderate negative relationship between wear volume loss and cyclic flexural strength (R²=0.487), indicating that materials with lower wear tended to exhibit higher flexural strength.
Conclusion: Cyclic loading reduced the flexural strength of all tested composites. The conventional composite, FZX, demonstrated superior flexural strength and wear resistance compared with the injectable composites. Higher cyclic flexural strength was associated with lower wear volume loss.
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