Evaluation of colour and hardness changes of soft lining materials in food colorant solutions

The aim of this study was to measure the colour stability and viscoelastic properties of three commercially available soft lining materials in vitro, by exposing them to 3% erythrosine, tartrazine and sunset yellow solutions. The colour changes were determined using a computer controlled spectrophotometer. The colour change of three soft lining materials--Molloplast B, Flexor and Coe Super Soft--were determined after 1, 3 and 6 months storage in three different food colorant solutions. The colour changes of Molloplast B was not noticeable. Only the initial colour value of Flexor was significantly different from the other time interval colour measurements. On the other hand, the colour difference of Coe Super Soft was found to be significantly different at all comparative time interval measurements (P<0.05). According to Shore A hardness values, Molloplast B had an initial hardness of 44 in all three solutions, and there was a slight increase after 6 months. Flexor had an initial hardness of 39, at the end of 6 months the hardness changed a little. Coe Super Soft was fairly hard after processing and Shore A hardness was initially 89 which increased to 95 later on. According to these results, only the hardness values of Coe Super Soft showed a statistically significant difference when compared using Wilcoxon signed rank test at the P<0.05 level. As a conclusion, silicon type soft lining material seems to be more resistant to colour change and hardness than the acrylic type soft liners.