Flowable SFRC promising resin composite material for enhanced durability under functional loading conditions: Study
Researchers have found in a new study that flowable short fiber-reinforced resin composite demonstrated significantly higher fracture resistance under both monotonic static loading and repeated subcritical stress. Its consistently superior performance in fracture resistance and fatigue flexural strength testing highlights flowable short fiber–reinforced resin composite as a promising resin composite material for enhanced durability under functional loading conditions.
This study aimed to evaluate the fracture resistance of a short fiber–reinforced flowable resin composite and compare it with that of different types of flowable resin composites. A total of 10 commercially available flowable resin composites were used, including a flowable short fiber–reinforced resin composite, five bulk-fill flowable resin composites, two injectable resin composites, and two single-shade flowable resin composites.
The flexural strength, flexural modulus, and resilience were measured using a three-point bending flexural test. Additionally, a fatigue flexural strength test was performed using repeated subcritical loading at a frequency of 20 hertz for 50,000 cycles. The fracture toughness was measured using the single-edge notched beam three-point bending test. All tests were performed after 24 hours of storage or 10,000 thermal cycles. The flowable short fiber–reinforced resin composite demonstrated significantly higher flexural strength, fatigue flexural strength, and fracture toughness than the other flowable resin composites. However, all the flowable resin composites demonstrated statistically significant reductions in flexural strength, resilience, fatigue flexural strength, and fracture toughness after thermal cycles compared with those at baseline.
The flowable short fiber–reinforced resin composite had superior fracture resistance under external force, not only under a monotonic static load but also under repeated subcritical load stress. The findings indicate that the flowable short fiber–reinforced resin composite is a promising resin composite due to its superior outcomes in the fatigue flexural strength test and other fracture resistance tests.
