Hardness and diametral tensile strength of a hybrid composite resin polymerized with different modes and immersed in ethanol or distilled water media

Objectives The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the microhardness and diametral tensile strength of a hybrid composite resin (Z250, 3M ESPE) polymerized with four different modes of light exposure and immersed in two different media. Methods Composite resin specimens were randomly polymerized according to the experimental groups (conventional, 550 mW/cm2/30 s; soft start, 300 mW/cm2/10 s+550 mW/cm2/20 s; high intensity, 1060 mW/cm2/10 s; pulse delay, 550 mW/cm2/1 s+60 s of waiting time+550 mW/cm2/20 s) and immersed in one of two media (distilled water or absolute ethanol) for 24 h. After that, microhardness (M) and diametral tensile strength (DTS) tests were performed. Results For DTS, there were no statistical differences among the polymerization modes, however, ethanol medium groups presented statistically lower DTS (p<0.05) than water medium. For the M test, samples immersed in ethanol medium presented lower M for almost all groups. Conventional mode presented higher M values for the groups immersed in water medium. In ethanol medium, conventional and pulse delay groups presented higher M values, statistically different (p<0.05) from the high intensity group. For all experimental conditions, the top surface showed higher M than the bottom surface. Significance Different polymerization modes can be related to the different polymer structures formed, and consequently with different physical properties of resin composite. The immersion media can alter the physical properties of resin composites of different polymer structures.