Characterization of adsorbed silane on fillers used in dental composite restoratives and its effect on composite properties

The purpose was to study the effect of silane treatment of fillers on viscosity, flexural strength, and hydrolytic degradation of experimental dental composite resins fabricated with these fillers. The fillers consisted of a mixture of barium glass and amorphous silica. The resin was mainly based on ethoxylated bisphenol A dimethacrylate and polycarbonate dimethacrylate. The adsorption of silane on the filler surface was characterized by FTIR. There was significant correlation between the adsorbed silane on filler surface and the silane concentration in silane/methanol solution used for filler treatment. The silane concentration varied from 0.75 to 14% by weight. An increase in silane concentration led to a decrease in viscosities of the corresponding composite resins. The flexural strengths of composites with silanated fillers were greater than that of composites with unsilanated fillers: however, no significant difference was found between the flexural strengths of various silanated groups. The resistance to hydrolytic degradation of different composites increased when the fillers were treated with silane and was the highest at 1.1% silane.