Chemical composition, particle form and annealing temperature of amalgam alloy versus creep of the resulting amalgam.

The influence of the chemical composition, particle form and annealing temperature of the amalgam alloy upon the creep of the resulting amalgam was investigated by means of a multiple regression model. Because no, or only little, information was available about the heat treatments of the different commercial alloys, the alloys were subjected to additional heat treatments at four different temperatures. The influence upon the creep of the amalgam of the Zn content, particle form and annealing temperature was found to be very significant. A higher Zn content as well as a spherical alloy resulted in less creep of the corresponding amalgam. The dependence of the creep upon the annealing temperature showed a minimum: more creep was obtained for amalgams prepared from the alloys heat treated at 150 degrees C and 435 degrees C than those from the alloys annealed at 315 degrees C and 319 degrees C, respectively.