Dental luting cements fail by microcrack formation and bacterial ingress or by gross failure and crown dislodgment. Both of these failure modes are related to mechanical properties and deformation.

This study evaluated those mechanical properties of cements.

Elastic modulus for 8 representative cements (zinc phosphate, polycarboxylate, glass ionomer, encapsulated glass ionomer, resin-modified glass ionomer, resin composite, and adhesive resin composite) was measured by using a nondestructive technique and evaluated for cement type and storage time (1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year) by 2-way ANOVA (P <.05). Compressive properties (proportional limit, resilience, and toughness), ultimate strengths (compressive, diametral tensile, and flexural), and flexural toughness were determined and evaluated by 2-way ANOVA for 2 crosshead testing rates (5 and 0.5 mm/min) and cement type (P <.05).

Cements varied with respect to elastic moduli, compressive proportional limit, compressive resilience, compressive strength, compressive toughness, diametral tensile strength, flexural strength, and flexural toughness. Storage time affected the elastic moduli of different materials in different ways. Elastic moduli of polycarboxylate and glass ionomer cements increased over time, whereas the other materials changed little after the first day. Crosshead rate only significantly affected compressive proportional limit and resilience.

Luting cements differed considerably with respect to mechanical properties. (J Prosthet Dent 1999;81:597-609.)