Open Access

ARTICLE

Facile Preparation of TiO₂/PMMA Nanocomposites with Enhanced Physio-Mechanical Properties for Dental Applications

Abdul Hakim Shah^1,*, Hassan Khan¹, Muneerah Alomar^2,*, Atta ur Rahman¹, Muhammad Hanif³, Salah ud Din⁴, Haseena Riffat¹, Nazir ur Rehman⁵, Munazza Gul¹, Muhammad Danyal Zarin¹, Muhammad Faran¹, Muhammad Wasim¹, Aqib Umar¹
1 Department of Physics, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Pakistan
2 Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (E & ME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan
4 KMU Institute of Pathology and Diagnostic Medicine, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan
5 Department of Geology, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Pakistan
* Corresponding Author: Abdul Hakim Shah. Email: ; Muneerah Alomar. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Functional Polymer Composites: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

Journal of Polymer Materials https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2026.082303

Received 13 March 2026; Accepted 05 June 2026; Published online 09 July 2026

Abstract

Dental caries (or tooth decays) is a common oral disease in early childhood and adults of all ages, which is caused by long-term synergies of acid-producing bacteria and fermentable carbohydrates in the oral environment. The use of existing dental restorative materials (including silver amalgams, light-cured resins, and dental restorative composites) and dental restorative composites (including glass ionomers cement, despite being sealants, releasing fluoride and promoting remineralization) is commercially restricted due to their weak mechanical properties, poor abrasion resistance, low elastic modulus, improper shrinkage, less polishability, brittleness, poor wear resistance tensile strength, aesthetic etc. Therefore, the physical intercalation of nano-fillers with polymer resins in nanocomposites might be a better alternative, mainly due to the high surface area of nanofillers. The present work reports an economical hydro-solvo thermal combinatory method to prepare TiO₂/PMMA nanocomposites with four distinct wt% (3%, 6%, 9% and 12%) of TiO₂ nanofillers. Their comparative structural, morphological, and functional group analysis was carried out with that of pure PMMA by XRD, AFM, and FTIR, respectively. The physio-mechanical properties of the nanocomposites (including Young modulus, ultimate tensile strength, break strength, hardness value (HV), flexural strength, water absorption, density tests and polymerization shrinkage) were measured using UTM, ASTM D790 standard, the Archimedes method and ASTM D570 standard, respectively. Significant enhancement in Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength, break strength, hardness value (HV), and flexural strength were recorded as compared with that of the pure PMMA, achieving the optimum values (1.23 times in Young’s modulus, 2.38 times in UTS, 2.37 times in break strength, and 2 times in HV) for the nanocomposite with 9% TiO₂ nanofiller. Similarly, significant reduction in water adsorption and polymerization shrinkage (linear decrease) was observed with increasing filler (TiO₂) contents, which reveals the dimensional stability of nanocomposites, favorable for dental implants, and this is attributed to the effective bonding of TiO₂ nanoparticles with the PMMA matrix. Such a tremendously enhanced physio-mechanical behavior of the TiO₂/PMMA nanocomposite (particularly with 9 wt% TiO₂ nanofiller) reveals its promising potential for use as a dental restorative material.

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Keywords

PMMA; TiO₂; hydro-solvothermal; nanocomposites; optimization; physio-mechanical

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