Fabrication and characterization of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite reinforced with silica-magnetite nanoparticles with proper thermal conductivity

Abstract

Silica glasses are used to improve the mechanical properties of bioceramic composites, such as strength and durability. Nowadays, further improvements of the thermo-mechanical properties of dental composites are in great demand. The present study aimed to improve SiO2 dental composites’ mechanical properties using reinforced-hydroxyapatite nano-powder. Besides, investigation of their thermal properties is targeted in the research project. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is synthesized and characterized by XRD, XRF, FE-SEM, and TEM techniques and is used as an additive to dental composite mixtures. The mechanical properties of these composites, including flexural strength, modulus of rupture, diameter tensile strength (DTS), and compressive strength, are investigated. Furthermore, the heat transfer of composites both in water and SBF (as immersed subjects in simulated body fluid) is cross-examined. Five dental-composite samples are prepared, containing 30% HA. Compared to traditional, HA-containing composite structures, the samples exhibit better mechanical properties. Thermal conductivity enhancement of HA/SiO2 at 1.0 vol% and 50 °C is 11.23% in water and 11.1% in SBF. Since bioceramics are insulative materials, enhancing solid composites such as SiO2 with HA is necessary to improve their thermal properties. Finally, an optimization approach is applied to obtain the fittest correlation for water-based and SBF-based HA-SiO2 hybrid-nanofluids. Moreover, the neural network technique is initialized to forecast the effect of temperature on mechanical properties.