Texture Study of Sinanodonta Woodiana Shells by X-Ray Diffraction

Abstract

Study of the preferred orientation of biological materials (bones, shells, etc.) is the use of crystallographic methods in biophysics to search for new possibilities in materials science. Much attention is paid to the texture of the bivalve mollusk shells. However, for a qualitative systematic investigation of the preferred crystallographic orientation of these shells, it is necessary to examine many representatives from different parts of the world. X-ray diffraction was used to study the preferential crystal orientation of adult shell of the species Sinanodonta woodiana collected from Czech freshwater streams. The texture of artificially grown young shells was also measured. The pole figure measurements of the Aragonite phase (planes (111), (102), (200), (121), (022) and (122)) were performed using a SmartLab Rigaku high-resolution X-ray diffractometer with a rotating Cu anode (Institute of Physic, Prague, Czech Republic).