Comparing AFM to stereoscopic SEM

What is it about?

Articular cartilage is the bearing surface of synovial joints and plays a crucial role in the tribology to enable low friction joint movement. A detailed understanding of the surface roughness of articular cartilage is important to understand how natural joints behave and the parameters required for future joint replacement materials. Bovine articular cartilage on bone samples was prepared and the surface roughness was measured using scanning electron microscopy stereoscopic imaging at magnifications in the range 500× to 2000×. The surface roughness (two-dimensional, Ra, and three-dimensional, Sa) of each sample was then measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). For stereoscopic imaging the surface roughness was found to linearly increase with increasing magnification. Values obtained using SEM stereo imaging were always larger than those obtained using AFM. Stereoscopic imaging can be used to investigate the surface roughness of articular cartilage. The variations seen between measurement techniques show that when making comparisons between the surface roughness of articular cartilage it is important that the same technique is used.

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