Food additives, composite materials, medicine packaging, artificial organs, and solar cells can all be made of synthetic polymers. Biopolymers including DNA, actin, collagen, and fibrin have crucial functions in the human body. Regardless of their chemical makeup, technical polymers other than those that are commonly used have been created or produced with specific qualities in mind. Contrarily, functional polymers are typically chosen based on particular chemical groups rather than on physical characteristics. These are frequently used in cutting-edge optical and electronic applications, like gas sensors.

Polymers have been one of the primary research topics using synchrotron techniques. Researchers can perform and study the following:

• Employing X-ray diffraction to measure the stresses in the metal and ceramic phases separately and together in metal matrix composites.
• Figure out how faults are distributed spatially at polymer interfaces.
• Investigation of the molecular effects of temperature and deformation to uncover the physical processes underlying macroscale
• Monitor molecular chains and hydrogen bonding in polymers using time-resolved investigations.
• Microdiffraction for skin-core morphologies using on-axis scanning
• Characterization of the nanostructure of fiber-reinforced composites and high performance fibers using microfocus X-ray beams.