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abstracts
Fibrous materials play an important role in many fields of research spanning from industrial applications to life sciences. They are typically organized in hierarchical arrangements of structural features on multiple length scales. Employing focused monochromatic x-rays combined with scanning diffraction, such samples can be studied obtaining rich information in reciprocal space (molecular to mesoscale level) and direct space simultaneously [1][2]. The resolution of the latter is mainly limited by the focal spot size ranging from a few microns down to 100 nm and less. The arrival of fast, sensitive pixel array detectors during the past years and the availability of high performance focusing optics enable in-situ studies on weakly scattering specimen like single polymer fibers and bio-composite materials (e.g. wood, bone tissue, ...) controlling environmental parameters such as humidity, temperature, and mechanical deformation. In this contribution we will present in a first part the state of the art of instrumentation for such experiments at the ESRF Microfocus Beamline, illustrated with recent examples. The figure below shows an example of a single fiber diffraction pattern of a high performance polymer (KEVLAR®) obtained from a 20 ms exposure with a 1.5 micron beam (Frelon CCD detector, 2k x 2k pixels, 13 keV photon energy). In the second part, future opportunities for scanning diffraction experiments emerging from potential upgrades of 3rd generation synchrotron radiation sources, as currently explored at the ESRF and elsewhere, will be discussed.
abstracts
Consumer products based on soft matter technology often exhibit macroscopic properties which are strongly dependent on their micro- and nano-structures extending over multiple size scales. Synchrotron scattering techniques are ideally suited for probing these multilevel structures and deliver complementary and in some cases unique information as compared to real space methods like confocal microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy. The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is a world-leading synchrotron light source which operates several state-of-the-art instruments for the investigation of soft materials and offers expertise to academic and industrial users. Fast and flexible access for proprietary experiments with a modular, fine-tuned service is guaranteed. A range of dedicated sample environments which mimic industrial processing conditions are available. This presentation will illustrate the state-of-the-art performance of the following synchrotron scattering techniques by recent examples of industrial relevance. Simultaneous small and wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) is a powerful method to determine the microstructure and phase behavior of multi-component systems like detergents, food products, pharmaceutical components, polymer composites, etc. The high photon flux translates to high throughput measurements, while the high degree of collimation and resolution permit to elucidate a wide range of length scales from a few Angstroms up to micron scale. Scanning microbeam SAXS/WAXS and single micro-crystal/fiber diffraction (µXRD) allows elucidating the local nanostructure of very small objects like micro-specimens of composite organic/inorganic materials, teeth, bones, micromechanical parts, polymer fibers, micro fluidics, etc. with micro/nanometric real space resolution. X-ray reflectivity (XR) and grazing incidence diffraction/scattering (GID /GISAXS) can reveal the nanoscale structure and complexity of nano-structured complex fluids at interfaces, organic films, biological membranes, etc.
