Wear of dental amalgam.

The wear of cental amalgam was studied by single- and double-pass sliding and by a silicon carbide abrasion test. A dispersed amalgam showed significantly better resistance to two-body abrasion than the spherical amalgams tested. The wear amalgam was determined by resistance to penetration and by a ductile mode of surface failure over the load range studied. Differences in the wear of amalgam and restorative resins and composites are discussed.