Resin cements are used for cementing indirect esthetic restorations such as resin or porcelain inlays. Because of its limitations in curing of purely light cured resin cements due to attenuation of the curing light by intervening materials, dual cured resin cements are recommended for cementing restorations. The physical properties of resin cements are greatly influenced by the extent to which a resin cures and the degree of cure is an important factor in the success of the inlay. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of porcelain thickness and exposure time on the polymerization of resin cements by measuring the microhardness and the degree of conversion, to investigate the nature of the correlation between two methods mentioned above, and to determine the exposure time needed to harden resin cements through various thickness of porcelain. The degree of resin cure was evaluated by the measurements of microhardness [Vickers Hardness Number(VHN)] and degree of conversion(DC), as determined by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy(FTIR) on one light cured composite resin [Z-100(Z)] and three dual cured resin cements [Duo cement(D), 3M Resin cement(R), and Dual cement(DA)] which were cured under porcelain discs thickness of 0mm, 1mm, 2mm, 3mm with light exposure time of 40sec, 80sec, 120sec, and regression analysis was performed to determine the correlation between VHN and DC. In addition, to determine the exposure time needed to harden resin cements under various thickness of porcelain discs, the changes of the intensity of light attenuated by 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm thickness of porcelain discs were measured using the curing radiometer. The results were obtained as follows ; 1. The values of microhardness and the degree of conversion of resin cements without intervening porcelain discs were 31~109VHN and 51~63%, respectively. In the microhardness Z was the highest, followed by R, D, DA. In the degree of conversion, D and DA was significantly greater than Z and R(p<0.05). 2. The microhardness and the degree of conversion of the resin cements decreased with increasing thickness of porcelain discs, and increased with increasing exposure time, D and R showed great variation with inlay thickness and exposure time, whereas, DA showed a little variation. 3. The intensity of light through 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm porcelain inlays decreased by 0.43, 0.25, and 0.14 times compared to direct illumination, and the respective needed exposure times are 53 sec, 70 sec, and 93 sec. In D and R, 40 sec of light irradiation through 2mm porcelain disc and 80 sec of light irradiation through 3mm porcelain disc were not enough to complete curing. 4. The microhardness and the degree of conversion of the resin cements showed a positive correlationship(R=0.791~0.965) in the order of R, D, Z, DA. As the thickness of porcelain discs increased, the decreasing pattern of microhardness was different from that of the degree of conversion, however.