The concept of biocompatible, osteoconductive material mimicking the structure of natural bone to be used as bone graft has generated a considerable interest in recent decades. This paper reports on a novel and simple sol-gel technique for fabricating pure hydroxyapatite powder. Compositional, microstructural, morphological and mechanical characterisations carried out on the powder as well as on dense and porous sintered bodies, are also reported. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.