Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the wear behavior of various dental restorative materials and effects of wear on the surface mechanical properties. For this purpose, a multi-purpose friction/wear tester and a mechanical indenter with a diamond probe were used. The dental ceramics showed the lowest amount of wear depth (64 ± 3·2 μm) at 15 min cycle. There was an insignificant increase (p > 0·05) in the wear of ceramic in 15 min time interval, however the difference was significant (p < 0·05) while comparing at 30 min interval reaching to (99 ± 4·4 μm) at 150 min. Wear resulted in increase in the surface hardness of materials; ceramics (from 6·06 ± 1·11 GPa to 6·65 ± 1·12 GPa) and resin composites (from 1·44 ± 0·31 GPa to 1·66 ± 0·34 GPa) and significantly increase for alloys. For example, the hardness of CoCr was increased from 5·38 ± 0·72 GPa to 7·18 ± 0·75 GPa after wear. Dental ceramic remains the most wear resistant among tested materials. Among direct restorative materials, amalgam alloy has better wear resistance. Wear of dental alloys resulted in greater surface hardening compared to the direct restorative materials.