SAXS: industrial

Non-destructive structural information

SAXS: industrialShape-change polymer gels have been extensively studied as novel intelligent materials with sensor, processor and actuator functions. In these materials, the machine motion is a change in response to some external stimulus some oscillating state that can be repeatedly induced on demand. A variety of novel microscopic mechanical devices have been described in the scientific literature; for example, pH sensitive gels have been used to build valves for fluidic systems. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) provides a key experiment to probe the molecular origin and nature of shape change in nano materials. SAXS provides data needed to determine how such technologies might be refined and scaled into useful products.

Since the world consumption of polymers is growing rapidly at the same time as raw material costs continue to rise, there is great interest is employing small-angle scattering (SAXS) and related diffraction techniques to supply a wealth of structural information, such as: size, shape, internal structure and mass of particles, particle size distribution in polydispersed systems, and fractal dimensions in disordered systems. SAXS can be used to facilitate an understanding of the relaxation of flow induced orientation, as it competes with crystallization in polymer processing, leading to a systematic prediction of the process, structure, and property relationships in plastic production.

Other applications include the study of inhomogeneities in polymer gels, inter-polymer complexes and thermo-reversible gelation on polymer solutions. SAXS is used to investigate various colloids and surfactants systems, including the effect of interaction with polymers on the size and shape of surfactant micelles in water, evaluation of micelle dimensions of novel surfactants, and the inner structure of multi-component polymeric lattices as a function of composition and method of preparation.

Relative to the study of block copolymers, the capabilities of ultra-SAXS coupled with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) enable the development of an understanding of how kinetics and thermodynamics interplay in the formation of these materials.

Rigaku offers a choice of SAXS solutions, from the ultra-SAXS capable S-MAX3000 to the powerful and flexible Ultima IV and the exceptionally easy-to-use SmartLab®.


BioSAXS-2000   BioSAXS-2000nanonano
Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) Kratky camera system
  NanoMAX   NanoMAX
NANOPIX mini  


  Ultima IV   Ultima IV
High-performance, multi-purpose XRD system with SAXS capability
  SmartLab   SmartLab
Advanced state-of-the-art high-resolution XRD / SAXS system powered by Guidance expert system software