Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2015
The paper focuses on the evolution of oriented nanostructures: An orientation in real space leads to scattering intensities with a preferred orientation with respect to the azimuthal angle in reciprocal space. Thus, the macroscopic orientation of nanostructures can be obtained from SAXS patterns. The additional advantage of in-situ SAXS is that one can directly follow the development of orientated nanostructures during thermal treatment, under extreme conditions or during processing. This is shown in the following for an orientational change of pores in two very different systems, the first being the formation of pores within carbon fibers during loading at high temperatures up to 2000 °C and the second is the development of macroscopically aligned pores in mesostructured silica in the sol-gel process during shear.