Comparative study of wear resistance of the composite with microhybrid structure and nanocomposite

The aim of the study was to compare microhardness and wear resistance of ceramic-polymer composites with micro and nanohybrid structure. For the studies commercial composites were used, containing filler particles of the same type but different sizes, nanosized (Filtek Ultimate) and micro-sized (Filtek Z250) composites. Tribological testing was conducted using ball-on-disc micro-tribometer. Vickers testing method was applied for microhardness studies with the use of Futertech FM 700 device. It has been demonstrated that the wear of Filtek Ultimate is almost twice lower in comparison to wear of Filtek Z250 composite. It has been concluded that the use of filler nanoparticles significantly increased wear resistance of the material. Additionally, lack of correlation between material microhardness and wear resistance has been demonstrated.