Touraj Nejatian (PhD student 2004-2008)
High impact resins
Plastic dentures are amongst the most important dental interventions, at least in terms of numbers fitted. The vast majority of these are manufactured from a blend of poly(methyl methacrylate) resin with about 50% filler particles and/or reinforcing fibres.
My research is looking into optimising processing conditions of these dentures, to ensure they have good appearance and durability. To do this I have been synthesising polymer beads, and I am currently developing techniques for including a range of fillers such as nano and micro sized TiO2 ZrO2, silicate glass flakes and nano sized clays e.g. Laponite clay.
The new materials are evaluated at the School by biaxial flexural strength (BFS) impact strength (Charpy impact strength test) and micro-indentation hardness tests. Preliminary results indicate that some improvement in BFS of PMMA has been achieved by adding filler particles.
Supervisor(s): Dr. A. Johnson and Prof. R. Van Noort