Effective property of tooth enamel: monoclinic behavior.

Abstract

Human tooth enamel possesses a unique morphology characterized by a repeated cell arrangement, which is composed of varying orientations of hydroxyapatite crystals. In the past, various investigators have reported diverse mechanical properties based on isotropic or orthotropic mechanical models in their experimental and numerical studies. However, these models are insufficient to capture the accurate microstructural effects on the enamel mechanical response. In this paper, a monoclinic anisotropic model, which offers correct descriptions of enamel deformation behaviors, is introduced. The model takes into account the 3D orientation changes of the hydroxyapatite crystals and their spatial elastic property variations. The proposed approach is based on a unit-cell and periodic boundary conditions, and it utilizes the collective deformation characteristics of many rods to determine 13 independent material constants required for the monoclinic model. These constants are necessary to utilize the effective property model to study various mechanical conditions such as abrasion, erosion, wear and fracture of whole tooth enamel.