Applications of SAXS: Fibres

Extreme ironing of fibres. Image CC-licensed from https://www.flickr.com/photos/redrocket/6702577465/in/photostream/
Extreme ironing of fibres. Image CC-licensed from https://www.flickr.com/photos/redrocket/6702577465/in/photostream/

I started working with small-angle scattering when investigating fibres during a (fun) company internship at Teijin Aramid. The most recent developments of our work in that field is summarized in this video to show SAXS applications in that field.

During the company internship, more traditional linearisation methods were used to get physically relevant data from the scattering patterns (in particular methods by Porod and Debye). We discovered, though, that these methods result in different parameters depending on the Q-range they are applied to.

For my Ph.D. investigation (thesis available here), I developed a 2D fitting method using classical scattering descriptions to analyse the full SAXS patterns from fibres. This worked much better than the classical methods, and we managed to get quite some useful information out. The fits were not easy to do, however, and to get a decent fit often required adaptation of the fitting models.

Returning to fibres during the start of my current project, we adapted the new MC method to fit the 2D data instead, doing away with the size distribution shape assumptions required for the classical approach. This work was presented at the 2012 SAS conference in Sydney. Unfortunately, the conference proceeding for that was not accepted, but the presubmission version is available here.

I hope you like the third SAXS example video. Let me know if you have comments!

 

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