Analyses of a cantilever-beam based instrument for evaluating the development of polymerization stresses

Objective nvestigation was to generate (1) guidelines for designing a tensometer that satisfies the necessary accuracy and sensitivity requirements for measuring polymerization stress (PS), and (2) a formula for calculating PS. Polymerization stress remains one of the most critical properties of polymeric dental materials, yet methods that can accurately quantify PS have been limited in part due to the complexity of polymerization, and in part due to the instrumentation itself. s study, we performed analytical and finite element analyses on a cantilever-beam based tensometer that is used to evaluate shrinkage stresses during the polymerization of dental restorative composites. s generated by a commercial dental composite determined using our new tensometer agrees with the predicted trend when the beam length and/or specimen height is varied. icance ork demonstrates the importance of beam dimension and component relative rigidity to the accuracy of PS evaluation. An analytical solution is also derived for the vertical beam deflection, which can be used for any combination of bending and shearing to properly calculate the PS. In addition, an easy-to-conduct calibration procedure is provided that is desirable for periodic tensometer recalibration.