Scanning Microbeam X-Ray Scattering of Fibers Analyzed by One-Dimensional Tomography

The investigation of structure gradients in polymer fibers or pipes by the X‐ray microbeam scanning technique is put on its theoretical fundament. The inverse Abel transform desmears measured data in X‐ray scattering fiber computer‐tomography (XSF‐CT). Fast, low noise algorithms from one‐dimensional tomography are available. They are applicable to scan data in which the X‐ray absorption, the small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS), or the wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD) is measured. The method is demonstrated by application to SAXS scan data from a polymer fiber. The resulting sequence of image‐space SAXS patterns is reflecting the nanostructure variation along the fiber radius.