Small-angle scattering of microparacrystallites (mPC's)

Abstract

Two-dimensional small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis combined with wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) from highly oriented polymers proves that the polymers consist of mosaic blocks with paracrystalline distortions - the so-called microparacrystallites (mPC's), which are the bricks of a paracrystalline superlattice - the so-called macroparacrystal (MPC). The concept of meso-phases fails, because the MPC's show simultaneously both nematic and smectic properties. All this new information cannot be obtained with slit-smearing cameras and unoriented samples.