Effect of different dental composite resins on the polymerization process

Dental composite resins possess good esthetic properties, and are currently among the most popular dental restorative materials. Both organic and inorganic phases might influence the material behavior, the filler particle features and rate are the most important factors related to improvement of the mechanical properties of resin composites. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different composite resins on the polymerization process by Vickers hardness test. The samples were prepared using three different composite resins, as follow: group I-P-60 (3M/ESPE); group II-Herculite XRV (Kerr), and group III-Durafill (Heraeus-Kulzer). The samples were made in a polytetrafluoroethylene mould, with a rectangular cavity measuring 7 mm in length, 4 mm in width, and 3 mm in thickness. The samples were photo-activated by one light-curing unit based on blue LEDs (Ultrablue III-DMC/Brazil) for 20 and 40 s of irradiation times. The Vickers hardness test was performed 24 h after the photo-activation until the standardized depth of 3 mm. The Vickers hardness mean values varied from 158.9 (+/- 0.81) to 81.4 (+/- 1.94) for P-60, from 138.7 (+/- 0.37) to 61.7 (+/- 0.24) for Herculite XRV, and from 107. 5 (+/- 0.81) to 44.5 (+/- 1.36) for Durafill composite resins photo-activated during 20 s for the 1st and 2nd mm, respectively. During 40 s of photo-activation, the Vickers hardness mean values were: from 181.0 (+/- 0.70) to 15.6 (+/- 0.29) for P-60, and from 161.8 (+/- 0.41) to 11.2 (+/- 0.17) for Herculite XRV composite resins, for the 1st and 3th mm, respectively. For Durafill composite resin the mean values varied from 120.1 (+/- 0.66) to 61.7 (+/- 0.20), for the 1st and 2nd mm, respectively. The variation coefficient (CV) was in the most of the groups lower than 1%, then the descriptive statistic analysis was used. The Vickers hardness mean values for Durafill were lower than P-60 and Herculite XRV composite resins for 20 and 40 s of irradiation time. The polymerization process was greatly affected by the composition of the composite resins.

Formation Mechanism via a Heterocoagulation Approach of FePt Nanoparticles Using the Modified Polyol Process

Herein, we report a new approach of an FePt nanoparticle formation mechanism studying the evolution of particle size and composition during the synthesis using the modified polyol process. One of the factors limiting their application in ultra-high-density magnetic storage media is the particle-to-particle composition, which affects the A1-to-L1(0) transformation as well as their magnetic properties. There are many controversies in the literature concerning the mechanism of the FePt formation, which seems to be the key to understanding the compositional chemical distribution. Our results convincingly show that, initially, Pt nuclei are formed due to reduction of Pt(acac)(2) by the diol, followed by heterocoagulation of Fe cluster species formed from Fe(acac)(3) thermal decomposition onto the Pt nuclei. Complete reduction of heterocoagulated iron species seems to involve a CO-spillover process, in which the Pt nuclei surface acts as a heterogeneous catalyst, leading to the improvement of the single-particle composition control and allowing a much narrower compositional distribution. Our results show significant decreases in the particle-to-particle composition range, improving the A1-to-L1(0) phase transformation and, consequently, the magnetic properties when compared with other reported methods.