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Depth‐Profiling of Crystal Structure, Texture, and Microhardness in a Functionally Graded Tooth Enamel
Author(s) -
Low ItMeng
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.2004.tb06369.x
Subject(s) - enamel paint , materials science , indentation hardness , indentation , apatite , human tooth , tooth enamel , composite material , texture (cosmology) , crystallite , crystallinity , biomaterial , vickers hardness test , microstructure , mineralogy , metallurgy , chemistry , nanotechnology , image (mathematics) , artificial intelligence , computer science
The graded nature of crystal structure, texture, and microhardness of human enamel has been characterized by grazing‐incidence synchrotron radiation diffraction and Vickers indentation. Results show that the composition of tooth enamel consists mainly of calcium apatite or hydroxyapatite (HAP). The HAP crystals formed near the occlusal surface are aligned approximately orthogonal to each other between the axial and occlusal sections. In addition, the tooth enamel has been shown to be a hierarchical graded biomaterial with a distinct gradation in crystallinity, texture, crystallite size, and hardness, which is somewhat akin to that of the fibrous microstructures found in natural plants. A “graded‐interface” approach is proposed as a biomimetic model for designing new dental or restorative materials as well as for joining of dissimilar materials.