Hardness of restorative resins: effect of camphorquinone, amine, and inhibitor.

The influence of the content of camphorquinone (CQ), amine (DABE), and inhibitor (MHQ) on the Wallace indentation hardness of light-curing polymers was investigated. The hardness was measured on disc-shaped specimens made from 50 bisphenol-A-glycidyl-dimethacrylate/triethyleneglycol-dimethacryla te-based monomers with various contents of CQ, DABE, and MHQ. When no MHQ had been added, the hardness number decreased with increasing content of CQ. This was also the case with increasing content of DABE, but to a lesser extent. In the presence of MHQ, the contents of CQ and DABE did not influence the hardness number significantly.