title: Nanoparticle-reinforced resin-based dental composites.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  TiO(2) nanoparticles treated with the organosilane allyltriethoxysilane (ATES) are used to improve the mechanical properties of dental resin-based composites (RBCs, Z100, 3M ESPE).
  
  
  METHODS
  TiO(2) nanoparticles were sonically dispersed in an ethanol solution containing ATES. The modified particles were washed in pure ethanol and dried before being used as filler. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to analyze the nanoparticles. Five groups of composite resin specimens were prepared: one control group, and four groups using either modified or unmodified nanoparticles comprising 0.5% or 1.0% of the material by weight. The mechanical properties (microhardness and flexural strength) of all five groups of specimens were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After modification, the particles' FTIR spectrum shows a new absorption doublet at 1200 and 1020 cm(-1). TEM images show that the modified particles have better dispersion, and that their clusters are small enough to create a homogeneous surface on dental RBCs. Composite resin specimens including modified nano-TiO(2) have significantly better mechanical properties than the control group (P<0.05). The improvement of adding 1.0 wt.% modified nano-TiO(2) particles was better than that of 0.5 wt.%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surface modification by the organosilane ATES influences the dispersion and linkage of TiO(2) nanoparticles within a resin matrix, and the modified particles are found to improve the microhardness and flexural strength of dental RBCs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, 136 HanZhong Road, Nanjing 210029, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Feimin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D003188:Composite Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D006244:Hardness; D008422:Materials Testing; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles; D018583:Pliability; D012821:Silanes; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003188:Composite Resins; D012821:Silanes; C009495:titanium dioxide; C522569:triethoxysilane; D014025:Titanium