Mechanical properties, volumetric shrinkage and depth of cure of short fiber-reinforced resin composite

The mechanical properties, volumetric shrinkage and depth of cure of a short fiber-reinforced resin composite (SFRC) were investigated in this study and compared to both a bulk fill resin composite (BFRC) and conventional glass/ceramic-filled resin composite (CGRC). Fracture toughness, flexural properties, volumetric shrinkage and depth of cure of the SFRC, BFRC and CGRC were measured. SFRC had significantly higher fracture toughness than BFRCs and CGRCs. The flexural properties of SFRC were comparable with BFRCs and CGRCs. SFRC showed significantly lower volumetric shrinkage than the other tested resin composites. The depth of cure of the SFRC was similar to BFRCs and higher than CGRCs. The data from this laboratory investigation suggests that SFRC exhibits improvements in fracture toughness, volumetric shrinkage and depth of cure when compared with CGRC, but depth of cure of SFRC was similar to BFRC.