Physical and thermo-mechanical characterizations of resin-based dental composite reinforced with silane-modified nanoalumina filler particle

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of adding different weight percentages of nanoalumina particles on mechanical properties of resin-based dental composite materials. The composite specimens were prepared by dispersion of different percentage weight fractions (0 wt%, 1 wt%, 2 wt% and 3 wt%) of silane-modified nanoalumina filler in a monomer system containing 50% bisphenol-A glycidyl methacrylate, 49% tri-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 0.2% Camphorquinone and 0.8% Ethyl 4-dimethylaminobenzoate. The filler particle before and after silane treatment was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The presence of C = O bond and Si–O–Si linkage between the monomer and filler was clearly indicated. Mechanical behavior of the light-cured samples was evaluated using compressive strength test, three-point flexural strength test, Vicker Micro hardness tests, dynamic mechanical analysis and simultaneous thermal analysis. The results indicated a more than 16% increase in the compressive strength in the samples containing nanoalumina filler particles. Vickers hardness of composite was increased by approximately 28% with respect to unfilled composite. The flexural modulus of composite mixed with alumina nanoparticles was increased from 1.7 to 5.1 GPa, while the values of composite were slightly decreased from 84.5 to 59.5 MPa. The dynamic mechanical analysis result revealed that the glass transition temperature was found to be increased by 30 ℃ compared to unfilled composite. It was also found that the 1 wt% nanoalumina content recorded the highest value of storage modulus. The weight loss profile and thermal stability from thermogravimetric analysis results revealed that the composite filled with 2 wt% nanoalumina content exhibited maximum thermal stability.