COMPARISON OF FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF ZINC NANOPARTICLES REINFORCED RESIN WITH CONVENTIONAL HEAT CURED ACRYLIC RESIN

Abstract

Poly methyl (methacrylate) is the most commonly used denture base material. The purpose of this study was to determine the flexural strength of zinc nanoparticles reinforced resin and to compare it with conventional heat-cured acrylic.
Twenty five specimens with same dimensions (80 x 10 x 3mm) were prepared and divided into five groups, each group containing 5 specimens: conventional acrylic resin and the same resin reinforced with 5%wt, 10%wt, 15%wt and 20%wt of Zinc powder. Flexural strength was evaluated with a 3-point bending test. The results were analyzed with a one-way Analysis of Variance with a p value set at less than 0.005 as significant.
All the interventional group specimens showed lesser flexural strength than the control group specimens. Specimens loaded with 20% showed the lowest flexural strength, followed by 15%wt, 10% wt and 5% respectively. Conclusion of this study was that the flexural strength of a heat cure PMMA denture resin could not be improved statistically after reinforcement with Zinc powder in different concentrations.