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Compressive response of vertically aligned carbon nanotube films gleaned from in situ flat-punch indentations

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Abstract

We report the mechanical behavior of vertically aligned carbon nanotube films, grown on Si substrates using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition, subjected to in situ large displacement (up to 70 μm) flat-punch indentations. We observed three distinct regimes in their indentation stress–strain curves: (i) a short elastic regime, followed by (ii) a sudden instability, which resulted in a substantial rapid displacement burst manifested by an instantaneous vertical shearing of the material directly underneath the indenter tip by as much as 30 μm, and (iii) a positively sloped plateau for displacements between 10 and 70 μm. In situ nanomechanical indentation experiments revealed that the shear strain was accommodated by an array of coiled carbon nanotube “microrollers,” providing a low-friction path for the vertical displacement. Mechanical response and concurrent deformation morphologies are discussed in the foam-like deformation framework with a particular emphasis on boundary conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge S. Hutchens and A. Needleman for helpful insights and guidance, E. Lim for data analysis, financial support from the Georgia Institute of Technology Foundation through the Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellowship, and the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) for financial support through Grant No. W911NF-09-0001 from the U.S. Army Research Office. The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. S.P. gratefully acknowledges support from the W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship program for this work. We gratefully acknowledge critical support and infrastructure provided for this work by the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, 91125, USA

    Siddhartha Pathak, Nisha Mohan & Julia R. Greer

  2. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA

    Parisa Pour Shahid Saeed Abadi, Samuel Graham & Baratunde A. Cola

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA

    Samuel Graham & Baratunde A. Cola

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  1. Siddhartha Pathak
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Correspondence to Siddhartha Pathak.

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Pathak, S., Mohan, N., Abadi, P.P.S.S. et al. Compressive response of vertically aligned carbon nanotube films gleaned from in situ flat-punch indentations. Journal of Materials Research 28, 984–997 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.366

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