He Li Hong, Swain Michael V
Biomaterials Science Research Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney, Sydney Dental Hospital, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2008 Jan;1(1):18-29. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2007.05.001. Epub 2007 May 24.
As the hardest and one of the most durable load-bearing tissues of the body, enamel has attracted considerable interest from both material scientists and clinical practitioners due to its excellent mechanical properties. In this paper, possible mechanisms responsible for the excellent mechanical properties of enamel are explored and summarized, which primarily include its hierarchical structure and the nanomechanical properties of the minor protein macromolecular component. Furthermore, additional experimental and numerical evidences to support the assumptions are presented. For example, enamel shows lower elastic modulus, higher energy absorption ability and greater indentation creep behaviour than sintered hydroxyapatite material. All the data indicate that the structural and compositional characteristics of the minor protein component significantly regulate the mechanical properties of enamel to better match its functional needs.
作为人体最坚硬且最耐用的承重组织之一，牙釉质因其优异的力学性能而引起了材料科学家和临床医生的广泛关注。本文探讨并总结了牙釉质具有优异力学性能的可能机制，主要包括其层次结构和次要蛋白质大分子成分的纳米力学性能。此外，还提供了支持这些假设的额外实验和数值证据。例如，与烧结羟基磷灰石材料相比，牙釉质表现出更低的弹性模量、更高的能量吸收能力和更大的压痕蠕变行为。所有数据表明，次要蛋白质成分的结构和组成特征显著调节了牙釉质的力学性能，使其更好地匹配其功能需求。
