Ultrastructural Observation of Hydroxyapatite Ceramics with Preferred Orientation to a-plane using high-resolution transmission electron microscope

Abstract

We have successfully fabricated hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramics with preferred orientation to a-plane using the single-crystal HAp fibers coated with apatite gels. The ultrastructure of the resulting HAp ceramics was investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Results of the HR-TEM images and the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns indicated that the resulting HAp ceramics had preferred orientation to a-plane.