Effect of dentin tubules on the mechanical properties of dentin. Part I: Stress-strain relations and strength criterion

As known, there is a large number of dentin tubules in dentin. These tubules have varying radii and are shaped into radially parallel pattern. The anisotropy of microstructure of dentin shows that dentin should be treated as a material of varying transverse isotropy. In this Part, the elastic stress-strain relations and the quadratic strength criterion are established in the form of having varying transverse isotropy, in the framework of micromechanics to take into account of the effect of the microstructures-dentin tubules. Simplified forms for isotropic and homogeneous cases, as well as the corresponding plane stress form of the stress-strain relations are also given. These theoretical models are very well supported by the experiments shown later in the continued paper (Part II). The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19525207).