Bending and buckling of carbon nanotubes under large strain
Abstract
The curling of a graphitic sheet to form carbon nanotubes produces a class of materials that seem to have extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties. In particular, the high elastic modulus of the graphite sheets means that the nanotubes might be stiffer and stronger than any other known material, with beneficial consequences for their application in composite bulk materials and as individual elements of nanometre-scale devices and sensors. The mechanical properties are predicted to be sensitive to details of their structure and to the presence of defects, which means that measurements on individual nanotubes are essential to establish these properties. Here we show that multiwalled carbon nanotubes can be bent repeatedly through large angles using the tip of an atomic force microscope, without undergoing catastrophic failure. We observe a range of responses to this high-strain deformation, which together suggest that nanotubes are remarkably flexible and resilient.
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Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators are attractive mainly because of their large-strain discontinuous actuations driven by electrical field or current, easy control and low cost.
“The electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators, as new technological devices, are attractive mainly because of their large-strain discontinuous actuations driven by electrical field or current, easily control and low cost [124].”
From Shape-memory polymers for multiple applications in the materials world (2016) · cites this paper as [124]
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- Authors
- Falvo, M. R., Clary, G. J., Taylor, R. M., Chi, V., Brooks, F. P., Washburn, S., & Superfine, R.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Superfine, R.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1997-10
- Volume
- 389
- Issue
- 6651
- Pages
- 582-584
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1982519899
- Cited by
- 1,475
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 76 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 34.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Carbon Nanotubes in Composites
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Graphene research and applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, bending, buckling, large strain deformation, resilience engineering, mechanical properties, nanotube defects
- MeSH terms
- Carbon, Elasticity, Graphite, Microscopy, Atomic Force
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