Spatially Resolved Texture Investigations of the Rabbit Bone-implant Interface by Neutron Diffraction

We investigated the preferred orientation of hydroxyapatite Ca₁₀(PO4)₆(OH)₂ (HAp) crystallites at the interface bone-implant in rabbit tibia bones, after 40 and 60 days of implantation. The implant had two faces, one coated and one non-coated with plasma-sprayed HAp (80 µm). We probed the samples with a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm starting from the interface to inspect the reorganisation of the HAp crystallite distribution and the crystallinity after implantation. For this texture study, we used the neutron 2 axis diffractometer D20 at the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL).