The purpose of this laboratory study was to formulate graphene oxide (GO) nano-sheets and characterize composites of homogenously dispersed GO sheets in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) acrylic resin of two groups, i.e., with 0.025 wt/wt.% GO (GO1-group) and 0.05 wt/wt.% GO (GO2-group). A large array of surface, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties, including creep, recovery, stress relaxation behaviour and temperature and frequency sweep of the formulated bone cements were further characterized. Analysis of variance test results (p = 0.05, n = 5) indicated that the nanohardness and elastic modulus of the experimental groups were not significantly different from those of the control. Micro-computed tomography results showed high porosity in the experimental groups. The compressive strength significantly increased both in GO1- and GO2-group under dry and wet storage conditions. The dynamic mechanical properties suggest a desirable role of GO in polymerization with PMMA. The produced GO-PMMA composites exhibited the expected characteristics, so their use in developing low-loading bone cement composites appears to be promising.

The objective of this study was targeted to synthesize and characterize a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) incorporated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based denture polymer. Two experimental denture base polymers were fabricated either by incorporating single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) (SW-group) or multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) (MW-group). In both groups, 0.5 wt% of the CNTs were incorporated into MMA monomer. Using a commercially available heat-cured PMMA (Interacryl Hot, Interdent, Opekarniska, Slovenia), a polymer-to-monomer ratio of 3:1 was used to fabricate the specimens (14 × 14 × 3 mm3 in dimensions) of the control group (without CNTs) (C-group) and the experimental groups (either SWCNT–PMMA or MWCNT–PMMA) ( n = 30, N = 90). Physical, mechanical, thermal, and rheological attributes of the tested materials were assessed. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (SPSS®, Chicago, IL, USA) and results were explored with one-way ANOVA. Incorporation of CNTs changed the surface morphology and topography of the PMMA specimens. No thermal changes were observed among C-, SW-, and MW-groups. Conversely, the hardness, elastic modulus and wear resistance were improved in both SW-group and MW-group. Additionally, the dynamic mechanical analyzer showed improvement in storage modulus in SW-group, affirming the load transfer capability of SW–PMMA composite. The CNT–PMMA composite might favorably be used as a potential denture base polymer.