Denture base acrylic reinforced with high modulus fibre

Dentures are frequently fractured owing to the poor fracture resistance of Denture Base Acrylic. This experiment was designed to compare the transverse strength of samples of conventional and cross-linked acrylic with samples containing various proportions of one of two high modulus fibres. The stiffest and strongest specimens were those of the conventional acrylic and all the reinforced specimens were significantly weaker. The reason for this appears to be failure to achieve true adhesion between the fibre and the matrix resulting in the layers of fibre separating the matrix into layers of narrow cross-section.