Influence of reinforcement on the physical and mechanical properties of a dental-grade resin with silice-zirconium ceramic particles for stereolithography additive manufacturing

The objective of this work is to study the development of a composite dental resin from obtaining the base resin using different proportions of acrylic monomers used in the company New Stetic S.A. (Colombia) to the fabrication of dental resins and to evaluate optimal conditions using parameters following the standards for dental part evaluation for the reinforcement of the matrix using a ceramic reinforcement material composed of Silica-Zirconium, with spherical particle sizes of 0.5 μm and 3 μm in a portion of 50% each one. This study is complemented with microstructural characterization through SEM-EDS and a statistical analysis to identify the influence of reinforcement on the properties. Results show that the obtained properties are adequate and have the potential to meet their intended use, the flexural strength showed values of more than 110 MPa and a modulus of more than 4 GPa, the compressive strength yielded values of more than 200 MPa and hardness greater than 90 Shore D. The physical properties showed optimum viscosity between 1000 and 2000 cP. Water absorption and solubility indicated values within the standards and optimal behavior with increasing reinforcement percentage. Adequate radiopacity was identified with reinforcement values greater than 30%, reaching values greater than 120%. Critical energy and penetration depth were affected by increased reinforcement, as confirmed by the conversion rate, which decreased significantly to 30% with a high reinforcement percentage. This work showed the feasibility of manufacturing this product via 3D printing.