Abstract
The effect of fiber reinforcing materials on the fracture strength of composite resin was evaluated. Each ten composite resin bars reinforced by glassfiber[Fiber-Splint ML$^{(R)}$(Polydentia SA, Switzerland)], polyethylene fiber [Ribbond$^{(R)}$(Ribbond Inc., U.S.A.)] and polyaramid fiber[Kevlar$^{(R)}$(DuPont, U.S.A.)] were loaded under the 3-point compression technique. Another ten pure composite resin bars without reinforcement were used as a control group. Then mean fracture strength and standard deviation were calculated and a ANOVA and Scheffe test were used in statistics. The results were as follows: 1. Kevlar group showed the highest fracture strength as 175.5MPa (p<0.05). Fiber-Splint ML group showed the lowest fracture strength as 112.7MPa. 2. The mean value of fracture strength in Ribbond group was 136.4MPa, and that of unterated control group was 143.6MPa. No difference was found between the two groups. 3. Ribbond and Kevlar reinforcement groups showed a catastrophic failure, where complete separation of pieces occurs to a unseparated fracture pattern. The use of Kevlar reinforcement fibers with composite resin showed significant increase in the average load failure and the presence of the fibers did prevent the catastrophic crack propagation present in the unreinforced samples. The use of Ribbond reinforcement fibers with composite resin showed no significant increase in the average load failure. However, the presence of the fibers did prevent the catastrophic crack propagation. Because high strength of glassfiber are rapidly degraded on exposure to moisture and humidity. The use of Fiber-Splint ML reinforcement fibers with composite resin showed significant decrease in the average load failure and displayed catastrophic fractures.