Fracture toughness determination of dental amalgams through microindentation.
A microindentation technique was used to study and estimate the fracture toughness of six amalgams. A significant difference is observed between fracture toughness at the bulk and the margin of amalgams. All amalgams show significant differences in fracture toughness as a function of distance from the margin. Microindentation measurement of fracture toughness appears to be an effective method of evaluating the localized brittleness of amalgams.
D003722:Dental Alloys; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D006245:Hardness Tests / Q000295:instrumentation
D003722:Dental Alloys; C033470:Dispersalloy; C031359:New True Dentalloy; C036886:tytin; C031360:Sybraloy; D003723:Dental Amalgam