Berlin 2008 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 18: Biomaterials
BP 18.3: Talk
Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 16:30–16:45, PC 203
Structure determination of spider silk from X-ray images — •Stephan Ulrich1, Martin Meling2, Anja Glisovic3, Tim Salditt3, and Annette Zippelius1 — 1Universität Göttingen, Institut für Theoretische Physik — 2Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen — 3Universität Göttingen, Institut für Röntgenphysik
Spider silk consists of interconnected crystallites, which are typically aligned along the fiber axis. We present a method to systematically determine the structure of these crystallites. Hereby we introduce a model that calculates the scattering function G(q) which is fitted to the measured X-ray image (silk from nephila clavipes). With it, the crystallites’ size, the constitution and dimensions of their unit cell, as well as their tilt with respect to the fiber axis is identified, and furthermore the effect of coherent scattering from different crystallites is investigated. The shown methods and the presented model can easily be generalized to a wide class of composite materials.