One-year water sorption and solubility of "all-in-one" adhesives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the water sorption and solubility of different adhesives. Adper Easy Bond, Adper Single Bond Plus, Bond Force, Clearfil SE Bond (bonding resin only), and Xeno IV were the materials evaluated. Ten disks of each adhesive were made in Teflon molds and evaporation of any volatile components was allowed. The disks were weighed daily in an analytical balance until a constant mass was obtained (m₁). Disks were then immersed in water for 12 months when their wet weight was recorded (m₂). The disks were again weighed daily until a constant mass was obtained and the final weight recorded (m₃). Water sorption and solubility (percentages) were calculated using the recorded mass values. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the average water sorption and solubility among the different adhesives. Mann-Whitney tests with a Bonferroni correction were used to determine the pairwise differences between adhesives in water sorption and solubility. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Water sorption and solubility were significantly different among the groups (p<0.05). Pairwise comparisons showed no significant differences (p>0.05) between Adper Single Bond Plus and Bond Force, or between Clearfil SE Bond and Xeno IV in either water sorption or solubility. Xeno IV did not differ from Adper Easy Bond in water sorption (p>0.05). Water sorption and solubility of all-in-one adhesives increased with time, and the rates of increase were composition-dependent. The results suggest that monomers other than HEMA contribute to water sorption and solubility of adhesive systems from different categories.