Design of low shrinkage methacrylate polymers

摘要

Among the many applications of photocrosslinkable polymers, dental restorative composites are of particular interest because of the controversy over the impact of mercury in silver amalgam fillings used in density and the desire for aesthetic materials that cannot be achieved with a metallic restorative. However, the shrinkage inherent in the polymerization of these composites or, more specifically, the stress developed with the shrinkage is still a major cause of the clinical failure of the polymer-based dental materials. Also, a significant reduction in polymerization shrinkage or shrinkage-related stress would benefit the application of resins and composites in various other fields, such as electronics, coatings, lithography etc. This study seeks to develop and evaluate novel low-shrinkage monomers based on the conventional methacrylate-polymerization chemistry. The approach involves a reduction in double bond density coupled with the introduction of potential physical crosslinks to reinforce the resulting polymeric network structure.