Two-body wear rate of PEEK, CAD/CAM resin composite and PMMA: Effect of specimen geometries, antagonist materials and test set-up configuration

ObjectiveTo test and compare the two-body wear rate of three CAD/CAM polymer materials and the influence of specimen geometry, antagonist material and test set-up configuration.MethodsThree CAD/CAM polymeric materials were assessed: a thermoplastic polyetheretherketone (PEEK), an experimental nanohybrid composite (COMP) and a PMMA-based material (PMMA). Crown-shaped and flat specimens were prepared from each material. The specimens underwent thermo-mechanical loading (50 N, 5/55 °C; 600,000 chewing cycles) opposed to human enamel and stainless steel antagonists. Half of the specimens of each group were loaded with a sliding movement of 0.7 mm, the remaining half without. Thereby, 24 different test set-ups were investigated (n = 12). Wear of the materials and antagonists was evaluated with a match-3D procedure. The topography of all surfaces was examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Data were statistically evaluated with four-/one-way ANOVA followed by Scheffé post hoc test and unpaired t-test (p < 0.05).ResultsAll PEEK specimens showed significantly less material loss than COMP and PMMA specimens when loaded laterally. Within the axial loaded groups this was only true for the flat specimens tested with enamel antagonists. Crown specimens of these groups exhibited lower loss values than flat ones. Lateral force application led mostly to significantly higher material loss than the axial load application. On the antagonist side, no impact of CAD/CAM polymer material, antagonist material, force application and specimen geometry was found.SignificanceWear of PEEK was lower than that of the resin-based materials when lateral forces were applied, but showed comparable antagonist wear rates at the same time.