Structural Characterization of Silk Fibers by Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering.

ABSTRACT

As one of the most advanced techniques to gain insight into the structure of the materials, wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) records the scattering information at wide angles which typically larger than 5° (2θ), where contains abundant and detailed atomic-scale structure information of the matter. To improve the intensity and time-resolution, the WAXS can be further coupled with a synchrotron light source. The resultant technique, that is, Synchrotron WAXS can reach and even surpass the spatial and time resolution of 0.1 nm and microsecond scale, respectively, thus is very suitable for characterization of animal silks both statically and quasi-dynamically. This chapter would show methods to understand the structure-property relationship of animal silks by WAXS.