Cyanoacrylate–POSS nanocomposites: Novel adhesives with improved properties for dental applications

ObjectivesThis study evaluates the effect of incorporation of an acrylate polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane nanostructure (APOSS) on the physical and mechanical properties and hydrolytic stability of octyl cyanoacrylate (CA) adhesives.Materials and methodsCA was photopolymerized under irradiation of visible light using 1-phenyle-1,2-propandione (PPD), and 2,3-botanedione (BD) as photoinitiators. Following the polymerization shrinkage kinetics of the adhesives, the initiator concentration was optimized. Mechanical properties of the bulk CA–APOSS nanocomposites, including flexural strength and modulus, were investigated. Miroshear bond strength of dental composite bonded to human dentin applying the CA–APOSS adhesives was also determined. The effect of APOSS on the stability of CA adhesive against hydrolysis studied performing solubility, water uptake, and aging tests.ResultsThe results revealed higher efficiency of BD in comparison to PPD. A 3% (mol/mol) of BD was obtained as the optimum photoinitiator concentration. The incorporation of APOSS increased the polymerization shrinkage rate of the CA adhesives. The flexural strength of CA adhesive was significantly improved incorporating less than 20 wt.% APOSS while an increasing trend was observed in the flexural modulus with the nanostructures loading. The microshear bond strength to dentin was also enhanced using 10 wt.% APOSS as reinforcing/crosslinking nanofillers. A decrease in the solubility and water sorption was the result of incorporation of APOSS in CA adhesives. Degradation due to the hydrolysis in water was diminished in the specimens containing APOSS nanostructures, revealed after aging in water at 37 °C.SignificanceCA adhesives are good soft tissue adhesives which their low mechanical properties and lack of hydrolytic stability has made them less interesting in the applications deal with hard tissues. The study shows that the incorporation of POSS nanostructures into CA could reduce the drawbacks.