Scientific Highlights

Prediction of the mechanical properties dictated by the local microfiber orientation is essential for the performance characterization of fiber-reinforced composites. Typically, tomographic imaging methods that provide fine spatial resolution are employed to investigate various materials' local micro- and nano-architecture in a non-destructive manner. However, conventional imaging techniques are limited by a substantial trade-off between the structure size of interest and the accessible field of view (FOV). Researchers from the TOMCAT beamline at Paul Scherrer Institut, Xnovo Technology ApS, and the Technical University of Denmark have demonstrated the potential of X-ray scattering tensor tomography for industrial applications by characterizing the microstructure of a centimeter-sized industrially relevant freeform injection molding fiber-reinforced composite sample. This emerging technique provides unprecedented access to microstructural information over centimeter-sized sample volumes paving the way towards its potential integration as an invaluable tool, for instance, in the fiber-reinforced-composite (FRC) industry. The obtained fiber orientation and anisotropy information over statistically relevant large volumes can be used to predict the mechanical properties of final products, optimize production parameters, and improve fiber injection molding simulation frameworks. The work is published in Composites Part B: Engineering on 15 March 2022.

An international team involving researchers from the University and University Hospital Zürich, the Krembil Research Institute and the University and University Hospital in Toronto (Canada), the Department of Physics of Jyväskylä (Finland), the University of Leuven (Belgium), the Johannes Kepler University in Linz (Austria), the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Emeryville (USA), the ETH Zürich and the Paul Scherrer Institute has developed a protocol that enables hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of vascular networks in entire postnatal- and adult mouse brains, enabling direct and quantitative comparisons of the morphological brain vascular network architecture between different postnatal and / or adult developmental stages. The results have been published on Nature Protocols on September 3rd, 2021.

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the Diamond Light Source and the Paul Scherrer Institut have generated strong evidence supporting one of two competing theories regarding the mechanism by which lithium metal dendrites grow through ceramic electrolytes. A process leading to short circuit at high rates of charge. The X-ray phase-contrast imaging capabilities of the TOMCAT beamline of the Swiss light source allowed researchers to visualize and characterize the growth of cracks and dendrites deep within an operating solid-state battery. The results were published in Nature Materials on April 22, 2021.

A group of EMPA and ETH Zürich researchers have developed a new method to directly write ink made of silica aerogels in 3D. Thanks to X-ray phase contrast tomography at the TOMCAT beamline they characterized the resulting printed material with different compositions. Their results were published in Nature on August 18, 2020.

Metal-based nanoparticles are a promising tool in medicine – as a contrast agent, transporter of active substances, or to thermally kill tumor cells. Up to now, it has been hardly possible to study their distribution inside an organism. Researchers at the University of Basel in collaboration with the TOMCAT team have used phase contrast X-ray tomographic microscopy to take high-resolution captures of the nanoparticle aggregation inside zebrafish embryos.

The study was published in the journal Small and featured on the cover of its current issue.

The team of Prof. Thomas Hermans at the University of Strasbourg in France managed to create wall-less aqueous liquid channels called anti-tubes. Thanks to X-ray phase contrast tomography at the TOMCAT beamline those anti-tubes could be observed in 3D. The exciting results were published in Nature on May 6, 2020.