Composite material and use of a composite material

#Not Applicable

#Not Applicable

#The present invention relates to a composite material with a specific filler and the use of a composite material with a specific filler for dental purposes.

#FIG. 1 is a SEM picture of SiO2 particles with a torus structure;

#FIG. 2 is a SEM picture showing the torus structure after thermal condensation; and

#FIG. 3 is a SEM picture after curing at higher temperatures with filler agglomerates.

#While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated

#The invention relates to a specific filler with filler particles which comprise a spherical annular structure and structurally correspond to the geometry of a torus. In contrast to porous fillers, in which the resin is merely mechanically anchored in the pores of the filler particles, here the extreme case is realised where the filler is completely drawn through by a single pore. This leads to the organic phase being continually bonded with the inorganic phase and thus forms a particularly effective linkage from a mechanical point of view. In this connection, the torus-shaped filler particles are mechanically penetrated by binders, like a string of beads, and bonded to one another by the continuous resin phase present in the interior of the torus, such that they can no longer be released from the resin matrix by hydrolytic degradation. Thus a dental material is produced which, due to the extremely effective bond between the organic and inorganic composite phase, has a particularly pronounced abrasion resistance with high flexural strength at the same time, which cannot be achieved by comparable dental materials of the prior art. As the hydrolytic degradation which starts over a period of time, also no longer leads to a phase separation because of the solid phase bond, the durability of the dental material is extended with full functionality. At the same time the aesthetic character of the dental mass is also increased. During polishing the filler particles, due to the solid phase bond with the binder, are worn away in layers and not, as with macrofilled composites, broken as a whole from the polymer matrix. This allows a high polish.

#Suitable binders for composite materials are, in addition to ethylenically unsaturated monomers and oligomers, epoxides, ormocers, ceramers, liquid crystal systems, spiro-orthoesters, oxethanes, polyurethane, polyester, A-silicon and C-silicon, polycarboxylic acids, etc.