Principal component analysis and cluster analysis for the characterization of dental composites

Various experimental dental materials were characterized using chemometric methods. The main aim of the study was to ascertain which composite materials present the best properties for use in restorative dentistry. Bisphenol-alpha-glycidyl methacrylate-based composites containing hydroxyapatite as a filler and a coupling agent were prepared using a photocuring polymerization procedure. Several chemical and mechanical properties of experimental composites were measured and the corresponding data were further studied using principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Results from the characterization allowed the most appropriate materials to be selected. Various composites presented acceptable general properties suggesting their suitability as substitutes for commercial materials in dentistry.     

Modeling of (vapor + liquid) equilibrium and enthalpy of solution of carbon dioxide (CO2) in aqueous methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) solutions

A thermodynamic model was used to estimate enthalpy of solution of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) aqueous solutions. The model was based on a set of equations for chemical equilibria, phase equilibria, charge, and mass balances. Non-ideality in the liquid phase was taken into account by interaction parameters fitted to (vapor + liquid) equilibrium data.The enthalpies of solution of CO₂ were derived from the model using classical thermodynamic relations and were compared to experimental values obtained in previous works.     

Enthalpy of solution of CO2 in aqueous solutions of methyldiethanolamine at T = 372.9 K and pressures up to 5 MPa

Experimental enthalpies of solution of CO₂ in aqueous solution of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) of 15 wt% and 30 wt% are reported. The measurements were performed using a flow calorimetric technique at temperature of 372.9 K and pressures range from 0.5 MPa to 5 MPa. Gas solubilities data at same temperature and pressures were derived from the enthalpy data. Experimental enthalpies of solution are combined with available literature data in order to examine pressure and composition influences.     

Reflection of plane waves from the boundary of a pre-stressed compressible elastic half-space

The effect of pre-stress on the propagation and reflection ofplane waves in an incompressible isotropic elastic half-spacehas been examined recently by the authors (Ogden & Sotiropoulos,1997). In the present paper the corresponding analysis for compressiblematerials is detailed. In the two-dimensional context consideredfor incompressible materials the (homogeneous) plane waves werenecessarily shear waves. By contrast, in the compressible contextpure shear waves can propagate only in specific directions inthe considered principal plane and, in a general direction,a quasi-shear wave may be accompanied by a quasi-longitudinalwave, as is the case in the anisotropic linear theory. The dependenceof the (in-plane) slowness section on the pre-stress (and finitedeformation) and on the choice of constitutive law is elucidated.This information is used to determine the reflection coefficientsfor reflection of either a (quasi-) shear wave or a (quasi-)longitudinal wave from the boundary of the half-space and tocharacterize the different cases which arise depending on thegeometry of the slowness section. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical calculationsfor the range of possible types of behaviour with referenceforms of strain-energy function and different states of finitedeformation and to the question of stability of the half-space.