Performance of electrospun PMMA-silica nanofiber as reinforced material in dental composite restoration

The objective of this study was to investigate the morphology of the electrospun PMMA-silica with varying amounts of silica (0 wt%, 1 wt%, 2 wt%, and 5 wt%) and to evaluate the flexural strength of dental composite reinforced with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-silica nanofibers (1 wt% of silica content) compare with PMMA nanofiber as a control. The PMMA-silica nanofiber was synthesized by the electrospinning process. Later, electrospun PMMA-silica nanofiber was impregnated with methacrylate of BisGMA/TEGDMA (50/50 mass ratio) to prepare dental composite. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) results in the morphology of the PMMA-silica nanofiber were observed with the addition of 1 wt% silica. Along with more additional of silica, the morphology became poor due to irregularities and beads. The XRD patterns revealed that the peak of silica was present, however, the pattern was dominated by the PMMA. The flexural strength of PMMA-silica nanofiber dental composite was 132.74 ± 20.70 MPa and PMMA nanofiber dental composite was 128.99 ± 12.60 MPa. In conclusion, there were no statistically significant in flexural strength values between PMMA-silica nanofiber dental composite and PMMA nanofiber dental composite (p-value > 0.05).