Affiliation

¹Biomaterials Research Group, Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Department, Materials and Energy Research Center, Tehran, Iran

²Department of materials engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Corresponding Author

A. Zamanian, Biomaterials Research Group, Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Department, Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC), Tehran, Iran, Tel: + 98 (912) 3211180; Fax: + 98 (263) 6280033x332; E-mail: a-zamanian@merc.ac.ir

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© 2019 Zamanian, A. This is an Open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Dental resin composites are wildly used to replace dental amalgam containing mercury as restorative materials. However, their mechanical properties need to be improved. The purpose of this work was to improve physical and mechanical properties of an experimental silica micro-filled dental composite with TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs). TNTs were synthesized using an alkaline hydrothermal process and then functionalized with ?-MPS. Nanotubes were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experimental dental composite was made by using silica micro particles and was reinforced by varying quantities of nanotubes (0-10 wt%). Flexural strength and modulus of resulting composites were measured using three-point bending method. The degree of conversion (DC) of monomers in composites was measured by means of FTIR spectroscopy. The wear resistance of reinforced composites was determined by pin-on-disk method. Also, compressive strength and water sorption of composite were evaluated. Microscopy and spectroscopy characterization methods revealed formation of TNTs and verified the process of functionalizing. The reinforced composite with 3 wt% TNTs exhibited significantly greater values of flexural and compressive strength in comparison with other reinforced composites. Comparison of reinforced composite with 3 wt% TNTs with unreinforced composite illustrated that wear resistance of reinforced composite considerably improved and on the other hand the water sorption decreased which leads to more composite stability. It was concluded that TNTs are promising filler for improving mechanical properties of dental composite