PIER Photon Science Colloquium: Unraveling the mechanical behavior of protein-based natural materials by multi-scale X-ray diffraction analysis

by Peter Fratzl (MPI für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, Potsdam)

Friday 15 Nov 2013, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

CFEL, Bldg. 99 (DESY Hamburg)

A large variety of natural materials with outstanding mechanical properties have appeared in the course of evolution. This includes wood, grasses, bone, sea shells or glass sponges. Biological materials are generally composites of different types of polymers and - sometimes - mineral. They are built in a hierarchical fashion, which allows the material to be optimized for its function at many different structural levels. Scanning X-ray scattering combined with other imaging modalities is an interesting tool to unravel the structural principles and deformation mechanisms. The lecture will address the deformation and molecular healing processes in polymeric fibrous materials, including tendon, mussel byssus fibers and whelk egg shell protein studied with the help of in-situ synchrotron X-ray scattering techniques.