Comparative evaluation of flexural strength of composite resin and microhardness of silver amalgam and composite resin to zirconomer

Aim of this study was to evaluate the flexural strength between composite resin and Zirconomer and to compare the microhardness of silver amalgam and composite resin to Zirconomer. In flexural strength analysis, ten specimens each of composite resin and Zirconomer with 25 mm × 2 mm × 2 mm dimensions were fabricated and were subjected to three point bend test. The specimen beams were then loaded at the center with the striker and the flexural strength was measured by using universal testing machine. For microhardness analysis, ten samples each of silver amalgam, composite resin and Zirconomer with 4.0 mm diameter × 4.0 mm height were prepared and subjected to Knoop hardness tester. On flexural strength analysis, composite resin samples had higher flexural strength than Zirconomer. On microhardness analysis, there was a significant difference between all the three groups in which amalgam group had the highest microhardness and Zirconomer group had the least microhardness. When composite resin group was compared with amalgam group, amalgam samples demonstrated the highest microhardness. It can be concluded that, Zirconomer exhibited poor flexural strength and microhardness when compared with composite resin and silver amalgam.