Experimental Research on Viscoelasticity Property of Different Layers Periodontal Ligament Under Compression

Abstract

The periodontal ligament (PDL) exhibits different material mechanical properties along the long axis of the teeth. To explore the creep and the relaxation effects of dissimilar layers of PDL, this paper took the central incisors of porcine mandibular as experimental subjects and divided them perpendicular to the teeth axis into five layers. Creep experiments and relaxation experiments on five layers were conducted to obtain the creep compliance and relaxation modulus at different layers. Linear elastic model, generalized Kelvin model, and generalized Maxwell model were used to describe the major characteristics of the PDL: Instantaneous elasticity, creep and relaxation. Fitting accuracy of three-parameter, five-parameter, and seven-parameter of the model was compared, and the constitutive equations of different layers were established by the least square method. The results presented that the creep strain and the relaxation stress of PDL were exponentially correlated with time under different loading conditions. Different layers showed a significant effect on the creep strain and relaxation stress of PDL. Along the long axis of the teeth, the changing rule of the creep compliance and relaxation modulus of each layer showed quite the contrary, and the instantaneous elastic modulus first decreased to the minimum, then increased to the maximum. Higher instantaneous elastic modulus led to lower creep compliance and higher relaxation modulus. The generalized Kelvin model and the generalized Maxwell model well characterized the creep and relaxation properties of PDL. Fitting accuracy increased with the number of model parameters. The relaxation time of PDL was about one order of magnitude shorter than the creep retardation time, which indicated that the relaxation effect lasted shorter than the creep effect.