Physical-chemical and Biological Properties of Novel Resin-based Composites for Dental Applications

Insufficient mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite -based composites prompted the search for new and effective solutions for dental applications. To improve the mechanical properties without losing the remineralization potential, the use of hybrid fillers was proposed. The first of them was based on the formation of hydroxyapatite (HA) layer on the surface of SYLOID®244 silica. The second of the investigated fillers was created by simultaneous synthesis of nanoparticles from precursors of HA and silica. The obtained fillers were extensively characterized by spectral methods including X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF), as well as by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)/Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Tests using probiotic microorganisms were an important part of the analysis, indicating that there was no potential interaction of the materials with microflora. The tests of degree of conversion, depth of cure, opacity, sorption, solubility, flexural and compressive strength, and the remineralizing potential also showed that the composites with nano-sized silica/HA showed better mechanical properties than the composites with HA alone or commercial silica and at the same time the remineralization remained at the desired level. Thus, the proposed composite has a high application potential in the creation of implants and dental materials.

Seismic scatterers in the lower mantle near subduction zones

SUMMARY We investigate the global distribution of S-to-P scatterers in the shallow to mid-lower mantle beneath subduction zones, where deep seismicity extends down to the bottom of the upper mantle. By array processing broadband and short period waveform data obtained at seismic networks, we seek anomalous later phases in the P coda within about 15–150 s after direct P waves. The later phases usually arrive along off-great circle paths and significantly later than S-to-P conversion from the ‘660 km’ discontinuity, often show positive slowness anomalies relative to direct P, and do not show a conversion depth that is consistent among nearby events. They are thus adequately regarded as scattered waves, rather than conversion at a global horizontal discontinuity. The S-to-P scattered waves often show amplitudes comparable to ‘S660P’ waves, which indicates that a spatial change in elastic properties by several percent occurs at the scatterers as abruptly as the post-spinel transformation and should arise from compositional heterogeneity. We locate prominent S-to-P scatterers beneath Pacific subduction zones and beneath southern Spain. Nearly half of 137 S-to-P scatterers located in this study and previous studies by the authors are shallower than 1000 km, and the number of scatterers decreases with depth. Scatterers deeper than 1800 km are rare and mostly weak. We examine relations between the locations of the scatterers and recently subducted slabs inferred from seismic tomography. The scatterers of mid-mantle depths, deeper than about 1000 km, are located distant from tomographic slabs. On the other hand, the majority of shallower scatterers are located beneath the slabs rather than near their fastest portions, which would indicate that chemically heterogeneous materials are not extensively entrained within thickened and folded slabs when the slabs impinge on the lower mantle. We also find scatterers near the locations where basaltic rocks of recently subducted oceanic crust are expected to exist, which suggests that oceanic crust is not delaminating when slabs impinge on the lower mantle.