Evaluation of Load Parameters and Hold Time of a Vickers Ultra-Micro Hardness Tester for Measure of Hardness and Modulus of Elasticity of Dental Composites

The aim of this study was to standardize the parameters for testing the hardness and elastic modulus for dental composites. It used the equipment Dynamic Ultra Micro Hardness Tester DUH-211 / DUH-211S (Shimadzu) varying the load and the hold time. two composites were used with various inorganic particles that were embedded and sanded for the assay. one Vickers indenter was used being held nine rows with ten penetrations. For each composite loads were used (20, 50 and 100gf) and times (zero, five and ten seconds). The results showed that the effect of the load and the hold time had influence on the modulus and hardness values of the studied composites. The authors concluded that loads and hold larger team showed greater stability of hardness values and modulus of elasticity for the studied composites and these values for both hybrid composites as for nanoparticulate were dependent on load and time.