Search results for "MECHANICAL PROPERTIES"

Electrical Conduction in Carbon Nanotubes under Mechanical Deformations

2009

The enormous potential of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as primary components in electronic devices and NEMS necessitates the understanding and predicting of the effects of mechanical deformation on electron transport in CNTs. In principle, detailed atomic/electronic calculations can provide both the deformed configuration and the resulting electrical transport behavior of the CNT. However, the computational expense of these simulations limits the size of the CNTs that can be studied with this technique and a direct analysis of CNTs of the dimension used in nano-electronic devices, particularly multi-wall CNTs (MWNTs), seems prohibitive at the present. Here a computationally effective mixed finit…

Lateral force microscopy of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

2009

Carbon nanotubes are usually imaged with the atomic force microscope (AFM) in non-contact mode. However, in many applications, such as mechanical manipulation or elasticity measurements, contact mode is used. The forces affecting the nanotube are then considerable and not fully understood. In this work lateral forces were measured during contact mode imaging with an AFM across a carbon nanotube. We found that, qualitatively, both magnitude and sign of the lateral forces to the AFM tip were independent of scan direction and can be concluded to arise from the tip slipping on the round edges of the nanotube. The dependence on the normal force applied to the tip and on the ratio between nanotub…

In situ nucleation of carbon nanotubes by the injection of carbon atoms into metal particles.

2007

The synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of desired chiralities and diameters is one of the most important challenges in nanotube science and achieving such selectivity may require a detailed understanding of their growth mechanism. We report the formation of CNTs in an entirely condensed phase process that allows us, for the first time, to monitor the nucleation of a nanotube on the spherical surface of a metal particle. When multiwalled CNTs containing metal particle cores are irradiated with an electron beam, carbon from graphitic shells surrounding the metal particles is ingested into the body of the particle and subsequently emerges as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) or multiwalled nan…

Multiwalled carbon nanotube reinforced polymer composites

2008

Due to their high stiffness and strength, as well as their electrical conductivity, carbon nanotubes are under intense investigation as fillers in polymer matrix composites. The nature of the carbon nanotube/polymer bonding and the curvature of the carbon nanotubes within the polymer have arisen as particular factors in the efficacy of the carbon nanotubes to actually provide any enhanced stiffness or strength to the composite. Here the effects of carbon nanotube curvature and interface interaction with the matrix on the composite stiffness are investigated using micromechanical analysis. In particular, the effects of poor bonding and thus poor shear lag load transfer to the carbon nanotube…

Carbon nanotubes as high-pressure cylinders and nanoextruders.

2006

Closed-shell carbon nanostructures, such as carbon onions, have been shown to act as self-contracting high-pressure cells under electron irradiation. We report that controlled irradiation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes can cause large pressure buildup within the nanotube cores that can plastically deform, extrude, and break solid materials that are encapsulated inside the core. We further showed by atomistic simulations that the internal pressure inside nanotubes can reach values higher than 40 gigapascals. Nanotubes can thus be used as robust nanoscale jigs for extruding and deforming hard nanomaterials and for modifying their properties, as well as templates for the study of individual n…

Mechanical properties of nanostructured carbon layers grown by CVD and PLD techniques

2010

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) have been proven to be among the most successful techniques for growing the entire spectrum of carbon films, which can be used in a wide range of technical applications. Here an investigation has been performed to explore the effect of different growing techniques (PLD and CVD) and process parameters (such as deposition time and substrate type) on the films' morphology and mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the grown thin films were characterised by means of nano/micro indentation and scratch test techniques. It was observed that the thickness of the Al2O3 interlayer (between the Fe catalyst nanoparticles an…

UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANOCLAY IN HDPE/PA6 BLENDS - IMPACT OF MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR

2009

ZrTiO4 materials obtained by spark plasma reaction-sintering

2014

Zirconium titanate (ZrTiO4), have many attractive properties such as high resistivity, high dielectric constant, high permittivity at microwave frequencies and excellent temperature stability for microwave properties. Zirconium titanate dense materials are proposed for many structural applications, but fully reacted and completely dense pieces are difficult to obtain by conventional routes. In this work, fully dense zirconium titanate materials (∼98%) were obtained at lower temperatures (1300-1400 C) and short processing time by non-conventional technique; spark plasma-reaction sintering (SPRS). Homogeneous and stable starting powders mixture with the adequate composition was prepared from …

Dependence of Exciton Mobility on Structure in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

2010

Optically generated excitons in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) display substantial diffusional mobility. This property allows excitons to encounter ∼104 carbon atoms during their lifetime and accounts for their efficient deactivation by sparse quenching sites. We report here experimental determinations of the mobilities of optically generated excitons in 10 different (n,m) species of semiconducting SWCNTs. Exciton diffusional ranges were deduced from measurements of stepwise photoluminescence quenching in selected individual SWCNTs coated with sodium deoxycholate surfactant and immobilized in agarose gel. A refined data analysis method deduced mean exciton ranges fro…

Optical pulling and pushing forces in bilayer PT-symmetric structures

2018

Photons are massless, yet can exert force on small particles. This $r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n$ $p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e$, though discussed by Kepler, still needs investigation for modern systems. This study reveals that the optical force exerted on a parity-time-symmetric bilayer with balanced gain and loss can be $a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}y\phantom{\rule{0}{0…