X-ray Scattering to Determine Soft Matter Materials Structure
Material Measurement Laboratory, Materials Science and Engineering Division
NIST only participates in the February and August reviews.
Many soft matter materials such as polymers, composites, and biomaterials derive their functional properties (mechanical, electrical, optical, transport) from specific structural characteristics that occur on the nanometer scale. X-ray scattering can be used to measure those structures and correlate them to functional properties. Determining structure from scattering patterns typically involves developing a realistic real-space model and then fitting a forward-simulated pattern with the experimental pattern. This research project pushes the frontiers of X-ray scattering experiment and analysis using new approaches. Aspects of particular interest are the use of polarized resonant soft X-rays for scattering, the use of highly coherent X-ray radiation for scattering, real-time insitu X-ray measurements of structure formation, and the integration of computational materials structure models as the basis for real-space model proposals.