Effect of veneering materials and curing methods on resin cement knoop hardness

This study evaluated the Knoop hardness of Enforce resin cement activated by the either chemical/physical or physical mode, and light cured directly and through ceramic (HeraCeram) or composite resin (Artglass). Light curing were performed with either conventional halogen light (QTH; XL2500) for 40 s or xenon plasma arc (PAC; Apollo 95E) for 3 s. Bovine incisors had their buccal surfaces flattened and hybridized. On these surfaces a mold was seated and filled with cement. A 1.5-mm-thick disc of the veneering material was seated over this set for light curing. After storage (24 h/37ºC), specimens (n=10) were sectioned for hardness (KHN) measurements in a micro-hardness tester (50 gf load/ 15 s). Data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's test (alpha=0.05). It was observed that the dual cure mode yielded higher hardness compared to the physical mode alone, except for direct light curing with the QTH unit and through Artglass. Higher hardness was observed with QTH compared to PAC, except for Artglass/dual groups, in which similar hardness means were obtained. Low KHN means were obtained with PAC for both Artglass and HeraCeram. It may be concluded that the hardness of resin cements may be influenced by the presence of an indirect restorative material and the type of light-curing unit.