# New X-ray diffractometer at TUM Campus StraubingA clockwork with the mass of a small car

**Source**: https://bgp.cs.tum.de/en/news/article/a-clockwork-with-the-mass-of-a-small-car
**Parent**: https://bgp.cs.tum.de/en/news

2023-01-30
TUMCS,
BGP

# New X-ray diffractometer at TUM Campus Straubing A clockwork with the mass of a small car

The Chair of Biogenic Polymers at TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability recently acquired an X-ray diffractometer—a special device that required precision work to set up.

Dr. Daniel Van Opdenbosch is responsible for the X-ray diffractometer at TUM Campus Straubing.

Dr. Daniel Van Opdenbosch looks relieved. “The delivery and installation of the new X-ray diffractometer required a great deal of patience and precision, a matter of millimeters,” says the group leader at the Chair of Biogenic Polymers (BGP) at TUM Campus Straubing. “But the technicians solved the challenge brilliantly.” For a few weeks now, Prof. Dr. Cordt Zollfrank's chair has had the device from Japanese manufacturer Rigaku in one of its laboratories.

The cost of half a million euros was financed in equal parts by a successful large-scale equipment application to the German Research Foundation (DFG) and funds from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

## Measuring in and from all directions and angles

The X-ray diffractometer opens up new horizons for structural analysis of materials: Researchers at the chair want to inspect mechanisms of embrittlement in biogenic injectable plastics and determine the orientation of cellulose in grown materials. What is special about this is that the source, sample, and detector can move freely with an accuracy of one thousandth of a degree, despite their considerable weight. This allows calculations to be made in and from all directions and angles – the X-ray diffractometer is like a clockwork mechanism with the mass of a small car. A temperature control chamber enables measurements to be taken from -180 to 500 degrees Celsius.

Researchers at the TUM Campus Straubing and external scientists are now using the device for material development and analysis. “The interest that has already been shown both on and off campus shows that the X-ray diffractometer is a significant investment in the university location,” says Dr. Van Opdenbosch, who oversees the device in the BGP laboratory.