A new tribometer for friction and wear studies of dental materials and hard tooth tissues

This paper presents a new tribometer developed for a study of the tribological behaviours of dental materials and hard tooth tissues. The device simulates oral kinematic conditions and the loading produced during masticatory process. The tribometer is similar to the existing devices regarding the kinematic features, i.e. it produces an adjustable oscillating movement. However, the device machine is equipped with a unique pneumatic system of loading controlled via computer by special software called TOOTHY. The programmable system allows easy adjusting of the loading parameters such as the magnitude of normal force and its amplitude or pattern of cyclic loading. In this way different combinations of loads can be applied thus making the investigation of different wear situations possible. The device has two full bridge strain gauges for the measurement of loading and friction forces, by which the coefficient of friction is determined. The use of the tribometer is illustrated by a comparative study of tribological behaviour of human enamel subjected to two- and three-body friction, and to two different loading patterns as well. The obtained results are discussed.