Tensile, shear and cleavage bond strengths of alginate adhesive

Objectives. This study determined the effect of alginate adhesive on various bond strengths of alginate to stainless steel. Methods. Three test assemblies were designed and machined in stainless steel for tension, shear and cleavage tests. Alginate adhesive (Fix™) was applied thinly and dried for 5 min. Alginate (Blueprint™) was then loaded and allowed to set for 5 min before testing. The force at failure was measured by an Instron machine with a cross-head speed of 50 mm min−1. Results. Breaking stresses of alginate without adhesive were found to be 65 kPa (tension), 31 kPa (shear) and 10 kPa (cleavage). The bond strengths of Blueprint with Fix were 100 kPa (tension), 42 kPa (shear) and 37 kPa (cleavage) giving improvements of 53%, 37% and 270% respectively (p<0.05). Conclusions. Alginate adhesive increases the bond strength of alginate, particularly cleavage, to stainless steel.