Abstract
At micro- and nanoscales, materials with high Youngs moduli and low densities are of great interest for high-frequency micromechanical resonator devices. Incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with their unmatched properties, has added functionality to many man-made composites. We report on the fabrication of 100-nm-thick laminates by sputter-deposition of aluminium onto a two-dimensional single-walled CNT network. These nanolaminatescomposed of Al, its native oxide Al"2O"3 and CNTsare fashioned, in a scalable manner, into suspended doubly clamped micromechanical beams. Dynamic flexural measurements show marked increases in resonant frequencies for nanolaminates with Al-CNT laminae. Such increases, further supported by quasi-static flexural measurements, are partly attributable to enhancements in elastic properties arising from the addition of CNTs. As a consequence, these nanolaminate micromechanical resonators show significant suppression of mechanical nonlinearity and enhanced strength, both of which are advantageous for practical applications and analogous to biological nanocomposites, similarly composed of high-aspect-ratio, mechanically superior mineral platelets in a soft protein matrix.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 459-463 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Nature Materials |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering