Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanical properties of five types of fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) posts and compare them with traditional metal post.
Methods: Five FRC posts and a metallic post having different geometry and type of fibre (glass, carbon or quartz fibre) were loaded to failure in compression and bending. The transverse sections of FRC posts were observed using SEM to evaluate the fracture mode and the percentage of fibres (compared with burn-off test). Densities and voids content were also evaluated.
Results: Mechanical results were subjected to a one-way ANOVA and Tukey test (p<0.05). In compression, quartz fibre posts exhibited the greater maximum load and ultimate strength, carbon fibre posts showed a poor compressive behaviour. All posts had similar compressive moduli. Carbon posts showed the highest flexural properties (p<0.0001) while glass posts the greater maximum load. The fracture load values correlated to the diameters of posts showed a parabolic behaviour. The flexural strengths of all posts were four and seven times higher than dentine. The elastic moduli of almost all posts were similar to dentine. The compressive strengths were lower than flexural strengths. The fibre diameters ranged from 5.2 to 26 μm, the volume percentage of fibres was about 64%. The content of voids of some posts lower their mechanical behaviour.
Conclusions: Compressive properties of FRC posts were lower than in bending. The flexural properties of FRC posts were higher than the metal post and similar to dentine. The mechanical behaviour is influenced by voids.
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