Evaluation of surface properties of a recently introduced maxillofacial silicone elastomer after aging

Background: Silicone elastomer has been the most widely used material in the production of maxillofacial prostheses. Although silicone has some advantages, the degradation of the material over time is still a problem. Investigating the properties of recently used materials is crucial for practitioners to expand the possible choice of materials. One of these properties is surface roughness (Ra), which causes microbiological colonization, color instability, and accelerated degradation. This study aimed to evaluate Ra after artificial aging of newly introduced high-consistency elastomers. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 specimens were fabricated using 4 high-consistency silicones (HCS) having different hardness options and 1 commonly used liquid silicone rubber. Each silicone group consisted of 2 colored subgroups and a nonpigmented subgroup as a control group. Ra values of the specimens were measured by a profilometer before and after the artificial aging. Ra change after aging was compared between all silicone groups using Wilcoxon signed-rank test (α=.05). Results: There was no significant difference between pre- and post-aging Ra values for all main silicone groups except for the lowest hardness option of HCS silicone (P