Nonthiphalang Thitaporn, Phumpatrakom Panupat, Rangsantham Paphavarin, Wongwitthayakool Panjaporn, Sirisinha Chakrit, Krajangta Nantawan
Division of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand.
Division of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand.
Polymers (Basel). 2025 Jan 8;17(2):143. doi: 10.3390/polym17020143.
In this study, we aimed to explore the feasibility of utilizing polypropylene (PP) and natural rubber (NR) blends as alternative materials for rubber dam clamps in dentistry. The hardness of various PP/NR blend ratios was compared to the commercial product SoftClamp. Selected blend ratios exhibiting hardness values resembling rigid plastic were further evaluated for hardness and tensile strength after undergoing 1, 5, and 10 autoclave cycles. One-way ANOVA test results found that the PP/NR blends exhibited significantly lower hardness ( < 0.001) than the commercial SoftClamp. PP/NR ratios of 100/0, 90/10, and 80/20 exhibited hardness levels equivalent to 82%, 80%, and 75% of SoftClamp, respectively. Two-way ANOVA revealed significant reductions in hardness ( < 0.001) and tensile strength ( < 0.001) with increasing NR content across all autoclave cycles. However, post-autoclave assessments at 1, 5, and 10 cycles demonstrated no statistically significant differences in tensile strength ( = 0.058) and hardness ( = 0.52) for PP/NR ratios of 100/0, 90/10, and 80/20 compared to their pre-autoclave states. The NR content within the PP/NR blends decreased hardness and tensile strength, while autoclaving did not significantly affect the hardness and tensile strength of the PP/NR blends.
在本研究中，我们旨在探索将聚丙烯（PP）与天然橡胶（NR）的混合物用作牙科橡皮障夹替代材料的可行性。将各种PP/NR混合比例的硬度与商业产品SoftClamp进行比较。对硬度值类似于硬质塑料的选定混合比例在经过1、5和10次高压灭菌循环后进一步评估其硬度和拉伸强度。单向方差分析测试结果发现，PP/NR混合物的硬度显著低于商业SoftClamp（<0.001）。100/0、90/10和80/20的PP/NR比例的硬度水平分别相当于SoftClamp的82%、80%和75%。双向方差分析显示，在所有高压灭菌循环中，随着NR含量的增加，硬度（<0.001）和拉伸强度（<0.001）显著降低。然而，与高压灭菌前状态相比，1、5和10次循环的高压灭菌后评估表明，100/0、90/10和80/20比例的PP/NR在拉伸强度（=0.058）和硬度（=0.52）方面没有统计学上的显著差异。PP/NR混合物中的NR含量降低了硬度和拉伸强度，而高压灭菌并未显著影响PP/NR混合物的硬度和拉伸强度。
