Stress microscopy and confocal Raman imaging of load-bearing surfaces in artificial hip joints.

Confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy is a technique with considerable potential in biomedical science owing to its ability to nondestructively scan samples in 3D with high spatial resolution and to precisely characterize the chemical, physical and mechanical characteristics of biomaterials at their molecular scale. Beyond the capacity of other conventional assessments of biomaterial oxidation state, crystalline and phase fractions, Raman and luminescence techniques can be used for assessing residual stress fields in artificial hip joints. Provided that the probe response function characterizing the probe/biomaterial interaction is known, 3D residual stress fields can be determined precisely with high axial and lateral resolution.