Abstract: The biomimetic coating process in comparison with other processes is reviewed. This processing shows advantages in the surface bio-modification, such as low cost and flexible processing, wide range of apatite composition and thickness, non-line-of-sight characteristic and possibility to coat polymers and porous implants. The bio-mimetic apatite coating is made up of larger number of globules with size of 1-5μm. Each globule is a group of numerous flakes with a size range of 100-200nm to 30μm in length and 0.1-1μm in thickness. In-vitro and in-vivo studies show that the biomimetic apatite coating can promote an early and strong bonding to bone or promote the bone in-growth into the porous structure, which will be beneficial to the cementless stable fixation of orthopaedic implants. Recently developed co-precipitation of a kind of protein molecules into the HA coating shows much promising.

Key words: hydroxyapatite coating; biomedical application; biomimetic coating; biometallic materials; surface modification