Temperature Effect on Tribo-Mechanical Properties of Dental Materials

Abstract

The dental enamel is the hardest surface of teeth. Depending on the mechanical and tribological properties of the enamel, the sustainability of the teeth can be appreciated. These properties are influenced by the mastication conditions including humidity, temperature and abrasion effects. The aim of this work it is to consider the effect of temperature on tribological and mechanical properties of restorative dental materials using advance techniques. Nanoindentation provides information about hardness and elastic modulus. The tribological investigation in this paper is summed up to measure the friction force as a function of temperature. A temperature control system is used to monitor the temperature of investigated samples in the range of 10–60 °C. For this purpose an atomic force microscope with a nanoindentation module was used for the experimental determination of the mechanical and tribological properties of the dental materials taking into account the temperature variation. These relatively non-destructive mechanical characterization techniques can help to better understand the mechanical behavior of dental materials and thus facilitate their preparation with excellent mechanical and tribological properties.