... titanium (Long & Rack, 199 8) such as plasma spraying (Yang, 199 5; Weng et al., 199 5), dipping (Li et al., 199 6), electro-codeposition (Dasarathy et al., 199 6), PLD (Cotell, 199 4), sputtering (Yang ... (Fernandez-Pradas et al., 199 8; Jelínek et al., 199 5; Mayor et al., 199 8; Fernández-Pradas et al., 2002; Arias et al., 199 7) Because of its capability to restore complex stoichiometry and to produce crystalline ... similar to that of bone tissue (~70%) (de Groot, 198 3; Kohn & Ducheyne, 199 2; LeGeros & LeGeros, 199 3; Elliot, 199 4), its biocompatibility, bioactivity and osteoconductivity (Hench, 199 1) Al2O3...