Volume-resolved nanostructure survey of a polymer part by means of SAXS microtomography

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) microtomography (micro-CT) resolves structure variation in an anisotropic polyethylene (PE) gradient material with fiber symmetry. 4 900 reconstructed SAXS patterns describe the nanostructure as a function of volume element position the scanned fiber cross-section. Reconstruction errors Were observed. Their first-order effect was eliminated by transformation of the SAXS into a multidimensional chord analysis, shows oriented,distribution function (CDF). Its lamellae stacks in a shell-layer and extended chains in the central core of the fiber. We document zones of uni- and bimodal structure, variation of long periods, stack heights, and lateral domain extension.