A new model to simulate the elastic properties of mineralized collagen fibril.

Bone, because of its hierarchical composite structure, exhibits an excellent combination of stiffness and toughness, which is due substantially to the structural order and deformation at the smaller length scales. Here, we focus on the mineralized collagen fibril, consisting of hydroxyapatite plates with nanometric dimensions aligned within a protein matrix, and emphasize the relationship between the structure and elastic properties of a mineralized collagen fibril. We create two- and three-dimensional representative volume elements to represent the structure of the fibril and evaluate the importance of the parameters defining its structure and properties of the constituent mineral and collagen phase. Elastic stiffnesses are calculated by the finite element method and compared with experimental data obtained by synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The computational results match the experimental data well, and provide insight into the role of the phases and morphology on the elastic deformation characteristics. Also, the effects of water, imperfections in the mineral phase and mineral content outside the mineralized collagen fibril upon its elastic properties are discussed.

Nanophase evolution at semiconductor/electrolyte interface in situ probed by time-resolved high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction.

Real-time evolution of nanoparticles grown at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface formed between a single crystalline n-type GaAs wafer and an aqueous solution of AgNO(3) has been studied by using high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The results reveal the distinct nucleation and growth steps involved in the growth of anisotropic Ag nanoplates on the surface of the GaAs wafer. For the first time, a quick transit stage is observed to be responsible for the structural transformation of the nuclei to form structurally stable seeds that are critical for guiding their anisotropic growth into nanoplates. Reaction between a GaAs wafer and AgNO(3) solution at room temperature primarily produces Ag nanoplates on the surface of the GaAs wafer in the dark and at room temperature. In contrast, X-ray irradiation can induce charge separation in the GaAs wafer to drive the growth of nanoparticles made of silver oxy salt (Ag(7)NO(11)) and silver arsenate (Ag(3)AsO(4)) at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface if the GaAs wafer is illuminated by the X-ray and reaction time is long enough.

Synchrotron applications of an amorphous silicon flat-panel detector.

A GE Revolution 41RT flat-panel detector (GE 41RT) from GE Healthcare (GE) has been in operation at the Advanced Photon Source for over two years. The detector has an active area of 41 cm x 41 cm with 200 microm x 200 microm pixel size. The nominal working photon energy is around 80 keV. The physical set-up and utility software of the detector system are discussed in this article. The linearity of the detector response was measured at 80.7 keV. The memory effect of the detector element, called lag, was also measured at different exposure times and gain settings. The modulation transfer function was measured in terms of the line-spread function using a 25 microm x 1 cm tungsten slit. The background (dark) signal, the signal that the detector will carry without exposure to X-rays, was measured at three different gain settings and with exposure times of 1 ms to 15 s. The radial geometric flatness of the sensor panel was measured using the diffraction pattern from a CeO(2) powder standard. The large active area and fast data-capturing rate, i.e. 8 frames s(-1) in radiography mode, 30 frames s(-1) in fluoroscopy mode, make the GE 41RT one of a kind and very versatile in synchrotron diffraction. The loading behavior of a Cu/Nb multilayer material is used to demonstrate the use of the detector in a strain-stress experiment. Data from the measurement of various samples, amorphous SiO(2) in particular, are presented to show the detector effectiveness in pair distribution function measurements.