Chemical, structural and mechanical characterization of bovine enamel

•Bovine and human enamel are similar in composition and structure.•Human and bovine enamels show similar hardness.•Bovine enamel has higher fracture toughness than human enamel. The purpose of this investigation was to establish microstructure, microhardness, fracture toughness, chemical composition, and crack repair of bovine enamel and to compare these features with their human counterparts. Bovine enamel fragments were prepared and optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to establish microstructure; Raman spectroscopy was used to estimate composition and microindentation using Vickers testing was performed to evaluate hardness. A strong dependence between indentation load and microhardness values was observed, as was the case in human enamel. Similar microstructure and chemical composition between bovine and human enamel, 7.89% lower microhardness and 40% higher fracture toughness values for bovine enamel were found. From a structural and mechanical standpoint, bovine enamel is a suitable alternative to human enamel for in vitro testing of dental products.