[Sorption and solution in autopolymerizing and light-cured composite materials]

When stored in water, polymeric filing materials with similar components but different activation systems exhibited similar tendencies in terms of sorption and solution behavior. After 7 days of storage, the uptake of water ranged between 12.1 and 58.9 micrograms mm-3. Solubility varied from 0.3 to 44.3 micrograms mm-3. Within the observation period the surface hardness of the 12 different test and reference materials was increasing. The polymerization of the photosensitive materials was considerably affected by the type of light source used.