Strength and creep of dental amalgam: the effects of deviation from recommended preparation procedure

The effects of deviations from recommended preparation procedures on the compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, plastic deformation, toughness, and creep of four commercial amalgam alloys have been investigated. Deviations included changes in trituration time, mercury/alloy ratio, and condensation pressure. With regard to both compressive strength and creep, there were great differences in the susceptibility of different amalgam alloys to variations in manipulation. One conventional alloy showed almost no variation in compressive strength as a result of the deviations from the recommended preparation procedure. This material also showed much greater plastic deformation and fracture toughness than the other materials, making it less brittle and probably more resistant to bending forces. Dispersalloy exhibited both increased and decreased strength as a result of the deviations, while ANA 2000 and Revalloy only showed decreased strength. Some of the alterations for ANA 2000 and Revalloy resulted in a decrease in strength below an acceptable clinical level. Regarding the modulus of elasticity, only the conventional alloys were affected by the alterations in the preparation procedure. However, for the plastic deformation, the results were reversed; only the high-copper alloys were affected. The toughness of the specimens was decreased for all the alloys with the exception of one, which was insensitive to changes in the preparation procedure as far as compressive strength was concerned. One of the high-copper alloys showed the least change in creep relative to deviations in preparation procedures. Lowered condensation pressure increased the creep value for all the amalgams; and for the conventional alloys a lowered mercury/alloy ratio also resulted in increased creep.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)