M. Tech. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology. / Sisal is a vegetable fibre extracted from the leaves of Agave Sisalana. The fibre is long, bold and creamy white in colour besides being exceptionally strong. It can be used for making agricultural and parcelling twines of various kinds as well as ropes, sacks, carpet and upholstery. The primary purpose of this research was to study and evaluate the use of sisal as a reinforcing fibre in both treated and untreated forms with epoxy resin matrices. The casting process employed during the composite production was the the vacuum infusion. The effects of both the treated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites and the untreated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites on the tensile strength and stiffness, flexural strength and stiffness, impact toughness, shear strength, compression strength and hardness were evaluated. Finally, the occurrence of transverse matrix fracture and fibre pull-out were also studied. It was found that the quasi-static mechanical properties of both the treated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites and the untreated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites improved with increases in reinforcement weight fractions. Further, fibre surface treatment on the sisal fibres and the attendant increase in the interfacial bond also resulted into improved quasi-static mechanical properties of the treated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites when compared to untreated sisal fibre-epoxy resin composites.

L’odontologie conservatrice a connu une véritable révolution avec l’avènement de la dentisterie adhésive et le développement des résines composites associé au collage aux tissus dentaires. L’apparition il y a 20 ans des résines composites fluides a élargi encore les possibilités thérapeutiques des praticiens. La mise sur le marché d’un grand nombre de résines composites qui diffèrent par leur nature matricielle et par le type, la taille et la proportion des charges incorporées associée au manque d’informations des fabricants sur les compositions exactes de leurs produits empêchent les praticiens de réellement connaitre les caractéristiques des matériaux qu’ils utilisent. L’hyper-caractérisation in vitro desdits matériaux est une voie importante pour avancer dans la compréhension de leur comportement. Afin de juger de l’impact de la variation du taux de charges dans le comportement mécanique et physico-chimique des résines composites fluides, nous avons étudié deux groupes de matériaux : un premier groupe constitué de résines composites fluides expérimentales à matrice commune et à taux de charges variable et un deuxième groupe composé de résines composites fluides disponibles dans le commerce. Pour chacun de ces matériaux après la détermination du taux de charges par la méthode de la calcination, l’évaluation des caractéristiques rhéologiques (viscosité complexe et module de conservation), la mesure de la micro-dureté (micro-dureté Vickers), la contraction volumétrique de prise selon la méthode de la déflexion d’une lame de verre, l’analyse thermo-mécanique dynamique en flexion (module de conservation, module de perte, facteur d’amortissement) ainsi que les capacités d’absorption d’eau et de solubilisation (détermination par différentiel de gravimétrie après immersion dans différents milieux) sont autant de facteurs potentiellement influencés par ledit taux de charges qui ont été étudiés. Si le taux de charges devrait clairement faire partie des critères de choix du praticien tant il apparait influant sur les plans mécaniques et physico-chimiques, il apparait qu’un taux de charges élevé ne représente pas une garantie suffisante pour répondre de façon optimale au cahier des charges du matériau d’obturation idéal. L’emploi de résines composites fluides déformulées à taux de charges variable permet d’évaluer le rôle de la phase dispersée, pour autant, l’étude en parallèle de matériaux commerciaux met en lumière l’influence de la nature matricielle et des différentes entités monomériques entrant dans la structure polymère. / Conservative dentistry has undergone a genuine revolution, with the advent of adhesive dentistry and the development of resin composites combined with dental bonding. The emergence of flowable resin composites 20 years ago further expanded the treatment options open to dental practitioners. The appearance on the market of a large number of resin composites that differ in terms of their matrix type, along with the size and the proportion of the fillers incorporated, combined with a lack of information from manufacturers concerning the exact compositions of their products, means that practitioners do not really know all the characteristics of the materials they are using. In vitro hypercharacterization of these materials is an important approach to help us gain a better understanding of their properties. In order to assess the impact of variation of filler contents on the mechanical and physicochemical properties of flowable resin composites, we studied two groups of materials: a first group, composed of experimental flowable resin composites with the same matrix and a variable filler content, and a second group, composed of commercially available flowable resin composites. For each of these materials, after determination of the filler content using the calcination method, assessment of their rheological properties (complex viscosity and storage modulus), measurement of microhardness (Vickers microhardness), volumetric setting shrinkage using the glass slide deflection technique, dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis in flexure (storage modulus, loss modulus, damping factor), along with the water absorption and dissolution capacities (determination by thermal gravimetry differential following immersion in different media) are all factors potentially influenced by the said filler contents studied. While the filler content should clearly be one of the decision-making criteria used by practitioners given the influence it seems to have on both mechanical and physicochemical properties, it nonetheless appears that a high filler content is not, in itself, a sufficient guarantee that the material meets the optimum specifications for an ideal filling material. The use of deformulated flowable composite resins with a variable filler content makes it possible to assess the role of the dispersed phase. However, a parallel study of commercially available materials highlights the influence of the matrix type and the various monomeric entities included in the polymer structure.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Monomers like triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) leach from dental composites and adhesives due to incomplete polymerization or polymer degradation. The release of these monomers causes a variety of reactions that can lead to cell death. This death can be either necrotic, which is characterized mainly by inflammation and injury to the surrounding tissues, or apoptotic, which elicits little inflammatory responses, if any at all. TEGDMA-induced apoptosis in human pulp has been reported recently. However, the molecular mechanisms and the apoptotic (pro and anti) proteins involved in this process remain unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the apoptotic proteins expressed or suppressed during TEGDMA-induced apoptosis. Human pulp fibroblasts (HPFs) were incubated for 24 hours with different TEGDMA concentrations (0.125-1.0 mM). Cytotoxicity was determined using the cytotoxicity Detection KitPLUS (Roche Applied Science, Mannheim, Germany). TEGDMA was shown to cause cell cytotoxicity at concentrations of 0.50 mM and up. The highest concentration with no significant cytotoxicity was used. Cells were incubated with or without 0.25 mM TEGDMA for 6 h and 24 h. Cell lysates were then prepared and the protein concentrations determined using the Bradford protein assay. A Human Apoptosis Array kit (Bio-Rad Hercules, CA ) was utilized to detect the relative levels of 43 apoptotic proteins. The results of this study showed statistically significant increases of multiple examined pro-apoptotic proteins. The anti-apoptotic proteins were also altered. Pro-apoptotic proteins involved in the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways were increased significantly. The results indicated that TEGDMA has effects on both the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways.