Micro-Pop-In Issues in Nanoscale Contact Deformation Resistance of Tooth Enamel

Human tooth enamel is a natural nanocomposite with a hierarchical structural architecture that spans from macroscale to nanoscale. Thus it offers the unique opportunity to study the physics of deformation at the nanoscale in a controlled manner using the novel nanoindentation technique. In spite of the wealth of literature, however, the information about the effect of loading rate on the nanoindentation behavior of human tooth enamel is far from being significant. Therefore, the major objective of the present work was to study the loading rate effect on nanoindentation behavior of enamel with a view to improve our understanding that could be used for development of better bioinspired synthetic structures for functional as well as biomedical utilities. The nanoindentation experiments were conducted at loading rates in the range of 103 to ~0.3×106 μN·s−1 at peak load of 105 μN at room temperature with a Berkovich tip on the longitudinal section from a freshly extracted premolar tooth enamel surface from a 65-year-old Indian male. To the best of our knowledge here we report for the first time the experimental observation of the increase in intrinsic resistance against contact-induced deformation at the nanoscale with the loading rate applied to the enamel surface. The results were explained by considering the microstructural details and the shear stress underneath the nanoindenter.