Microtensile bond strength test bias caused by variations in bonded areas

Abstract

Purpose: While it has been shown that no method produces specimens with exactly the same cross-sectional bonded area (BA), BA variations within and between studies are a well-known covariate in microtensile test results. However, no method has yet been described to accurately acount for its influence. A procedure is presented that allows controlling for variations of BA effects on results. Further, a proposal for reporting is presented which enables resuls of different studies to be compared.

Materials and methods: partially using the results of the report in which the microtensile test was originally described, both general (caused by differences in BA) and specific (due to a material's performance differences and intrinsic biological varibility of specimens) variabilities were separated through linear regression of microtensile (MPa) to BA(mm2) pooled results. Comparing the specific variability of specimens-the residuals to the regression line-of groups allowed assessing differences between groups.

Results: A means comparison of residuals showed that specific differences were significant (t-test, p=0.0004). The null hypothesis could be rejected : materials' performances were different. This could not be determined in the original report, since BA variability was very high. A proposal for reporting of results to facilitate their clinical interpretation and comparison between studies is presented.

Conclusion:Controlling for general variability caused by differences in BA size allows precise comparison of microtensile tests results.