Mechanical properties of denture base resin through controlling of particle size and molecular weight of PMMA

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles, denture base resin, were synthesized by suspension polymerization through control of polymerization conditions (stabilizer concentration, co-monomer concentration, and the agitation speed) and evaluated changes in molecular weight and particle size. We also investigated their mechanical properties of compression-molded samples which were from synthesized polymer powder mixed with methyl methacrylate (MMA) solution. under the condition of volumetric ratio as 2: 1 (PMMA powder and MMA solution). The results shows that the mechanical properties were mainly affected by particle size over 100 mum (in particle size) and by molecular weight under 100 mum (in particle size). From these results, we concluded that the most appropriate particle size of PMMA powder for heat-cured denture base resins is around 100 mum. and its molecular weight is around 300000 (M-n).