Finite element stress analysis of dental cement application on endocrown and onlay restoration.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of resin cement material types on tooth with endocrown and onlay restorations. The first molar was scanned using Micro-CT and underwent a modelling process to obtain the 3D model for computational simulation. Eight models were simulated in the current study with two loading conditions (720N vertical load and 200N oblique load), two types of restoration (onlay and endocrown restorations), and two resin cement variants (dual-cure resin cement and light-cure resin cement). The tooth with onlay restoration showed a significant stress reduction (up to 70%) when using light-cure resin cement compared to dual-cure resin cement. In contrast, types of cement did not affect stress distribution in the tooth with endocrown restoration. The current study found that dual-cure resin cement was preferable in Endocrown and Onlay restorations, due to dual-cure resin cement provided better bond strength compared to light-cure resin cement.

High-Performance Cladophora-Algae-Based Paper for Honeycomb Core in Sandwich-Structured Composite: Preparation and Characterizations.

Cellulose is classified as one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature. Its excellent properties have gained a lot of interest as an alternative material for synthetic polymers. Nowadays, cellulose can be processed into numerous derivative products, such as microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). MCC and NCC have demonstrated outstanding mechanical properties owing to their high degree of crystallinity. One of the promising applications of MCC and NCC is high-performance paper. It can be utilized as a substitute for the aramid paper that has been commercially used as a honeycomb core material for sandwich-structured composites. In this study, MCC and NCC were prepared by extracting cellulose from the Cladophora algae resource. MCC and NCC possessed different characteristics because of their distinct morphologies. Furthermore, MCC and NCC were formed into a paper at various grammages and then impregnated with epoxy resin. The effect of paper grammage and epoxy resin impregnation on the mechanical properties of both materials was studied. Then, MCC and NCC paper was prepared as a raw material for honeycomb core applications. The results showed that epoxy-impregnated MCC paper outperformed epoxy-impregnated NCC paper with a compression strength of 0.72 MPa. The interesting result from this study is that the compression strength of the MCC-based honeycomb core was comparable to the commercial ones despite being made of a natural resource, which is sustainable and renewable. Therefore, cellulose-based paper is promising to be used for honeycomb core applications in sandwich-structured composites.

3D Printing of Polycaprolactone-Polyaniline Electroactive Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering.

Electrostimulation and electroactive scaffolds can positively influence and guide cellular behaviour and thus has been garnering interest as a key tissue engineering strategy. The development of conducting polymers such as polyaniline enables the fabrication of conductive polymeric composite scaffolds. In this study, we report on the initial development of a polycaprolactone scaffold incorporating different weight loadings of a polyaniline microparticle filler. The scaffolds are fabricated using screw-assisted extrusion-based 3D printing and are characterised for their morphological, mechanical, conductivity, and preliminary biological properties. The conductivity of the polycaprolactone scaffolds increases with the inclusion of polyaniline. The in vitro cytocompatibility of the scaffolds was assessed using human adipose-derived stem cells to determine cell viability and proliferation up to 21 days. A cytotoxicity threshold was reached at 1% wt. polyaniline loading. Scaffolds with 0.1% wt. polyaniline showed suitable compressive strength (6.45 ± 0.16 MPa) and conductivity (2.46 ± 0.65 × 10-4 S/cm) for bone tissue engineering applications and demonstrated the highest cell viability at day 1 (88%) with cytocompatibility for up to 21 days in cell culture.