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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 84 » Issue 24
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5552–5555 (2000)

Tensile Loading of Ropes of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes and their Mechanical Properties

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Min-Feng Yu1, Bradley S. Files2, Sivaram Arepalli3, and Rodney S. Ruoff1,*
1Department of Physics, Washington University–St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
2EM2—Materials and Process Technology Branch, NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058
3G_B_Tech/Lockheed Martin, 2400 NASA Road One, Houston, Texas 77058

Received 26 January 2000; published in the issue dated 12 June 2000

See accompanying Physics Focus

The mechanical response of 15 single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) ropes under tensile load was measured. For 8 of these ropes strain data were obtained and they broke at strain values of 5.3% or lower. The force-strain data are well fit by a model that assumes the load is carried by the SWCNTs on the perimeter of each rope. This model provides an average breaking strength of SWCNTs on the perimeter of each rope; the 15 values range from 13 to 52 GPa (mean 30 GPa). Based on the same model the 8 average Young's modulus values determined range from 320 to 1470 GPa (mean 1002 GPa).

© 2000 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.5552
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.5552
PACS:
62.20.Fe, 61.48.+c, 81.40.Jj

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.Electronic addresses: ruoff@wuphys.wustl.edu, r_ruoff@northwestern.edu (after 1 September 2000).

 
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