Different Properties of Acrylic Resins With or Without Photopolymerized Glaze

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a photopolymerized glaze on different properties of acrylic resin for ocular prosthesis submitted to accelerated aging.
Methods: Forty discs (10 mm diameter x 3 mm thickness) were fabricated and randomly divided in 4 groups (n=10): N1 Acrylic resin without photopolymerized glaze (G1); Colorless acrylic resin without photopolymerized glaze (G2); N1 Acrylic resin with photopolymerized glaze (G3); Colorless acrylic resin with photopolymerized glaze (G4). All samples were polished sequentially with sandpapers (240, 600 and 800-grit). In G1 and G2, a sandpaper 1200-grit was also used and finalized with diamond solution with felt disk. In G3 and G4, samples were coated with photopolymerized glaze MegaSeal. The analysis of color stability, microhardness, roughness, atomic force microscopy (AFM), surface energy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed before and after the accelerated aging, which were done for 1008 hours in an aging chamber. Data were submitted to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test was performed. The level of significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: The groups with photopolymerized glaze exhibited statistically higher color change and roughness values after the accelerated aging. Besides, through AFM and SEM, an increase of surface irregularities of all groups was also verified. The microhardness significantly decreased in groups with photopolymerized glaze and increased in groups without photopolymerized glaze. The surface energy increased after the accelerated aging, independently of the polishing procedure.
Conclusions: The photopolymerized glaze is an inadequate surface treatment for acrylic resins for ocular prosthesis and it affected the color stability and roughness of this material. The accelerated aging negatively interfered with the resins’ properties.