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Figure 5
Tensor tomography reveals orientation in 3D. (a) The principle behind combined SAXS and WAXS tensor tomography. The sample is raster scanned through a pencil X-ray beam and scattering data are collected as a function of position (x, y), rotation angle (α) and tilt angle (β). (b) The bone sample under study was taken from the human iliac crest and a small cuboid sample was cut as indicated. (c)/(d) The structure of the sample was studied by high-resolution synchrotron tomography. The tomographic 3D data (c) were oriented into the same orientation as the tensor tomography data shown in parts (e)–(g) and a slice through the centre of the volume was virtually extracted in which the traces of the mineralized collagen fibrils can be seen in part (d). The scale bar in part (d) is 5 µm. (e) Results of SAXS tensor tomography in the same cut volume as in part (c). Each voxel is represented by a line, the orientation of which gives the dominant orientation of the nanoscale features. The degree of orientation is indicated by the colour scheme. (f) Results from WAXS tensor tomography based on the (002) reflection; symbols and colour scale are the same as in part (e). (g) Co-orientation analysis with red signifying perfect alignment of the WAXS (002) tensor results and the SAXS nanoscale tensor results, while blue represents opposite alignment. Note the appearance of blue bands of bone voxels that do not display co-alignment. Adapted from Grünewald et al. (2020BB15).

Journal logoSTRUCTURAL SCIENCE
CRYSTAL ENGINEERING
MATERIALS
ISSN: 2052-5206
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