MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF DENTAL COMPOSITE MATERIALS REINFORCED WITH MICRO AND NANO-SIZE Al2O3 FILLER PARTICLES

Composite specimens were prepared by dispersion of various amounts of nano-sized Al2O3 fillers in a monomer system containing 60% Bis-GMA and 40% TEGDMA. For comparative purposes, composite samples containing micrometer size Al2O3 fillers were also prepared following the same procedure. The mechanical properties of the lightcured samples were assessed by three-point flexural strength, diametral tensile strength, and microhardness tests. The results indicated a more than hundred percent increase in the flexural strength and nearly an eighty percent increase in the diametral tensile strength values in the samples containing nano-size Al2O3 filler particles. It is interesting to note that, this improvement was observed at a much lower nano-size filler content. Fracture surfaces analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, indicated a brittle type of fracture in both sets of specimens.