Development and characterization of marble dust-filled dental composite

With environmental concerns, there is a strong need to develop posterior restorative dental material as a true alternative to dental amalgam, while one of the serious environmental concerns is how to utilize marble waste such as marble dust produced during machining and cutting of stones. Therefore, the present study proposed a material formulation as a solution for both the issues and investigated the performance of silane-treated marble dust-filled dental composite. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy analysis, Raman Spectroscopy analysis, and Thermo-gravimetric analysis were used to characterize treated and untreated filler. The physical and mechanical characterizations such as void content test, water sorption test, micro-hardness, compressive strength test, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermo-gravimetric analysis were performed. The result of the study indicated that addition of 0-9wt.% of marble dust powder increased the hardness, compressive strength, and flexural strength in the range of 69-96 HV, 175-296MPa, and 55-80MPa, respectively. However, the void content and water sorption were also increased in the range of 0.31-1.41% and 1.05-2.15%, respectively. Further, it was also revealed that dynamic properties and thermal degradation temperature were increased with the increase of marble dust.