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Fatigue resistance of aligned carbon nanotube arrays under cyclic compression

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 417–421 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Structural components subject to cyclic stress can succumb to fatigue, causing them to fail at stress levels much lower than if they were under static mechanical loading1. However, despite extensive research into the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube structures2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 for more than a decade, data on the fatigue behaviour of such devices have never been reported. We show that under repeated high compressive strains, long, vertically aligned multiwalled nanotubes exhibit viscoelastic behaviour similar to that observed in soft-tissue membranes10,11. Under compressive cyclic loading, the mechanical response of the nanotube arrays shows preconditioning, characteristic viscoelasticity-induced hysteresis, nonlinear elasticity and stress relaxation, and large deformations. Furthermore, no fatigue failure is observed at high strain amplitudes up to half a million cycles. This combination of soft-tissue-like behaviour and outstanding fatigue resistance suggests that properly engineered nanotube structures could mimic artificial tissues, and that their good electrical conductivity could lead to their use as compliant electrical contacts in a variety of applications.

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Figure 1: Compressive cyclic stress–strain characterization tests.
Figure 2: Hysteresis and nonlinear elastic behaviour of a multiwalled CNT block.
Figure 3: Strain–fatigue relation in cyclic strain controlled testing.
Figure 4: Electromechanical characterization test.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. J. Rock for help with sample preparation. P.M.A. acknowledges funding support from the Focus Center New York for Interconnects.

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  1. J. Suhr and P. Victor: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Nevada, Nevada, 89557, Reno, USA

    J. Suhr

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, 12180, Troy, USA

    P. Victor, L. Ci, O. Nalamasu & P. M. Ajayan

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, New Jersey, 08540, Princeton, USA

    S. Sreekala

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China

    X. Zhang

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All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to J. Suhr or P. M. Ajayan.

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Suhr, J., Victor, P., Ci, L. et al. Fatigue resistance of aligned carbon nanotube arrays under cyclic compression. Nature Nanotech 2, 417–421 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.186

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