Position-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering of complex biological materials

Many biological materials, like bone or wood are hierarchically organized and optimized at all levels for their specific mechanical function. At the lowest level, these materials are fiber composites, where the fiber direction as well as the size of the individual components varies considerably with position inside a given specimen. For bone or wood, some of these parameters can be readily obtained by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in a position-resolved way. A scanning-SAXS system based on a pinhole camera with rotating anode and area detector is presented, and first applications to the study of bone and wood are reported.