Tensile and Morphological Assessment of PMMA/PP and PMMA/PAN Denture Material

In the present search, a study was made to evaluate and compare the performance of Poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA resin properties, which used for prosthetic complete denture base material after the addition of two kind of fillers. Polypropylene (PP) and poly acrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were used as reinforcing materials. The influence of a selected weight ratio (1.5, 3.5, 5.5 and 7.5 wt %) were evaluated. The selected tests for this study were tensile strength, elongation at break percentage, modulus of elasticity, and finally some morphology examination. The obtained results clearly presents a decrease in tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, elongation at a various rate while the increase of used fibers ratio until the maximum value (7.5 wt %). The results at the maximum addition of tensile strength for both PMMA/PP and PMMA/PAN where 19 and 13 MPa respectively, compared to the neat polymer value (37 MPa). Elastic modulus evaluation for PMMA/PP and PMMA/PAN were 0.8845 and 0.8735 GPa respectively, so slight decrease from the neat PMMA (1.114 GPa). Also, elongation percentage for PMMA/PP and PMMA/PAN determined as 1.89 and 1.84 % respectively, compared to neat PMMA (4.66 %). The surface of PMMA/pure fracture was shown to be homogenous by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) testing, however it is almost continuous for the PMMA/PP and PMMA/PAN. The fractured surface smoothness increased and showed a brittle to semi-ductile behaviour and a ductile transformation for the prepared composite. This study aims to develop some of the characteristics required for PMMA resin that are used in denture bases fabrication.