On-axis microbeam wide- and small-angle scattering experiments of a sectioned poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) fiber

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) fiber sections of ∼15μm length were prepared by a laser microdissection system. On-axis mesh scans by combined small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering using a micron-sized synchrotron radiation beam confirms a radial texture of crystalline domains with orientational order differing for skin, central core and intermediate layers. A skin-core variation in small-angle scattering demonstrates the evolution of fiber structure due to the heat-treatment process.