Hardness Improvement of Dental Amalgam Using Zinc Oxide and Aluminum Oxide Nanoparticles

Strength tests of a dental amalgam material were conducted. Zinc oxide and aluminium oxide nanoparticles were used as fillers to enhance the hardness and other mechanical properties of dental amalgam material. The zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by using a sol–gel technique, the samples of which were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Raman spectroscopy and then mixed with the material and compacted into cylindrical-shaped pellets for green density, compressibility and Vickers hardness evaluation. Increment of 183 % in hardness was observed with average Vickers hardness of 0.95 GPa by using 250 °C zinc oxide as nanofiller. On the other hand, the Al₂O₃ nanoparticles filled composite observed 1.12 GPa of average Vickers hardness with 229 % of increment as compared to without the fillers. All in all, that the application of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles as filler result in improved hardness. This work offers the dentistry industry a potential contender in the market place.