• Multiscale and Multiphysics Mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2016

Amyloid fibrils have recently been considered as an interesting material, since they exhibit the excellent mechanical properties such as elastic modulus in the order of 10 GPa, which is larger than that of other protein materials. Despite recent findings of these excellent mechanical properties for amyloid fibrils, it has not been fully understood how these excellent mechanical properties are achieved. In this work, we have studied the nanomechanical deformation behaviors and properties of amyloid fibrils such as their elastic modulus as well as fracture strength, by using atomistic simulations, particularly steered molecular dynamics simulations. Our simulation results suggest the important role of the length of amyloid fibrils in their mechanical properties such that the fracture force of amyloid fibril is increased when the fibril length decreases. This length scale effect is attributed to the rupture mechanisms of hydrogen bonds that sustain the fibril structure. Moreover, we have investigated the effect of boundary condition on the nanomechanical deformation mechanisms of amyloid fibrils. It is found that the fracture force is critically affected by boundary condition. Our study highlights the crucial role of both fibril length and boundary condition in the nanomechanical properties of amyloid fibrils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.85-85
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• 2010

Graphene, the building block of graphite, is one of the most promising materials due to their fascinating electronic transport properties. The pseudo-two-dimensional sp2 bonding in graphene layers yields one of the most effective solid lubricants. In this poster, we present the correlation between electrical and nanomechanical properties of graphene layer grown on Cu/Ni substrate with CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. The electrical (current and conductance) and nanomechanical (adhesion and friction) properties have been investigated by the combined apparatus of friction force microscopy/conductive probe atomic force microscopy (AFM). The experiment was carried out in a RHK AFM operating in ultrahigh vacuum using cantilevers with a conductive TiN coating. The current was measured as a function of the applied load between the AFM tip and the graphene layer. The contact area has been obtained with the continuum mechanical models. We will discuss the influence of mechanical deformation on the electrical transport mechanism on graphene layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.110-110
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• 2011

The nanomechanical properties of fully lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire deposited on silicon substrate have been studied with atomic force microscopy. Silicon nanowires were synthesized using the vapor-liquid-solid process on stainless steel substrates using Au catalyst. Fully lithiated silicon nanowires were obtained by using the electrochemical method, followed by drop-casting on the silicon substrate. The roughness, derived from a line profile of the surface measured in contact mode atomic force microscopy, has a smaller value for lithiated silicon nanowire and a higher value for unlithiated silicon nanowire. Force spectroscopy was utilitzed to study the influence of lithiation on the tip-surface adhesion force. Lithiated silicon nanowire revealed a smaller value than that of the Si nanowire substrate by a factor of two, while the adhesion force of the silicon nanowire is similar to that of the silicon substrate. The Young's modulus obtained from the force-distance curve, also shows that the unlithiated silicon nanowire has a relatively higher value than lithiated silicon nanowire due to the elastically soft amorphous structures. The frictional forces acting on the tip sliding on the surface of lithiated and unlithiated silicon nanowire were obtained within the range of 0.5-4.0 Hz and 0.01-200 nN for velocity and load dependency, respectively. We explain the trend of adhesion and modulus in light of the materials properties of silicon and lithiated silicon. The results suggest a useful method for chemical identification of the lithiated region during the charging and discharging process.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2021

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is one of the most widely adopted silicon-based organic polymeric elastomers. Elastomeric nanostructures are normally required to accomplish an explicit mechanical role and correspondingly their mechanical properties are crucial to affect device and material performance. Despite its wide application, the mechanical properties of PDMS are yet fully understood. In particular, the time dependent mechanical response of PDMS has not been fully elucidated. Here, utilizing state-of-the-art PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (PFQNM) together with Force Volume (FV) and Fast Force Volume (FFV), the elastic moduli of PDMS samples were assessed in a time-dependent fashion. Specifically, the acquisition frequency was discretely changed four orders of magnitude from 0.1 Hz up to 2 kHz. Careful calibrations were done. Force data were fitted with a linearized DMT contact mechanics model considering surface adhesion force. Increased Young's modulus was discovered with increasing acquisition frequency. It was measured 878 ± 274 kPa at 0.1 Hz and increased to 4586 ± 758 kPa at 2 kHz. The robust local probing of mechanical measurement as well as unprecedented high-resolution topography imaging open new avenues for quantitative nanomechanical mapping of soft polymers, and can be extended to soft biological systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.176-177
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• 2013

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.340-340
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• 2006

Applying force-distance curve measurement by atomic force microscopy to a theoretical mechanical model gives us elastic properties of polymer surfaces. Our group focuses on force-mapping method, in which force-distance curve is performed at each lattice point on a sample surface and subsequently a variety of properties derived from analytical results are combined to construct a 2-dimensional image. With this method we succeeded in deriving Young' s modulus distribution map method of rubbery/rubbery polymer blend surfaces with ${\sim}100\;nm$ lateral resolution. We also applied force-mapping method to another theory to divide distribution of hardness from that of adhesion. We will demonstrate recent progress.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.115-121
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• 2007

Phase contrast imaging in atomic force microscopy showed a promise as an effective tool for better understanding of micromechanical properties of surfaces at nano scale. A qualitative estimation model for phase contrast images obtained with a tapping mode AFM was developed. This investigation demonstrated the high efficiency of combined analysis of topography and phase contrast images for characterizing nanosurfaces. Phase contrast images allowed estimation of relative stiffness(elastic modulus) of the sample surface. The phase contrast images revealed a significant inhomogeneity of the nano scale worn surfaces. Phase contrast images are also capable of revealing the formation of tribofilms.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.733-738
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• 2009

Mechanical properties of <001> silicon nanowires are presented. In particular, predictions from the calculations based on different length scales, first principles calculations, atomistic calculations, and continuum nanomechanical theory, are compared for <001> silicon nanowires. There are several elements that determine the mechanics of silicon nanowires, and the complicated balance between these elements is studied. Specifically, the role of the increasing surface effects and reduced dimensionality predicted from theories of different length scales are compared. As a prototype, a Tersoff-based empirical potential has been used to study the mechanical properties of silicon nanowires including the Young's modulus. The results significantly deviates from the first principles predictions as the size of wire is decreased.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.112-115
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• 2010

We have investigated a surfactant-assisted sonochemical approach to produce monodisperse $Fe_3O_4$ nanoparticles (NPs). The non-ionic surfactant Igepal CO-520 (Poly(oxyethylene)(5) nonylphenyl ether) has been used for the preparation of NPs and the effects on the NP size, size distribution, and magnetic properties have been studied. The $Fe_3O_4$ NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The results reveal that the NPs prepared by a Igepal CO-520-assisted sonochemical method exhibit a narrow range of size distributions and a high monodispersity compared to the NPs from the conventional sonochemical method. The analysis of NPs prepared in the presence of the surfactant suggested that it could be used not only as a protector to prevent the oxidation of Fe (II), but also as a controller to vary the size of the NPs.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.273-286
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• 2017

We present a simple and easy-to-implement lumped stiffness model to elucidate the load transfer mechanism among all individual tube shells and intertube van der Waals (vdW) interactions in transversely compressed multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Our model essentially enables theoretical predictions to be made of the relevant transverse mechanical behaviors of multi-walled tubes based on the transverse stiffness properties of single-walled tubes. We demonstrate the validity and accuracy of our model and theoretical predictions through a quantitative study of the transverse deformability of double- and triple-walled CNTs by utilizing our recently reported nanomechanical measurement data. Using the lumped stiffness model, we further evaluate the contribution of each individual tube shell and intertube vdW interaction to the strain energy absorption in the whole tube. Our results show that the innermost tube shell absorbs more strain energy than any other individual tube shells and intertube vdW interactions. Nanotubes of smaller number of walls and outer diameters are found to possess higher strain energy absorption capacities on both a per-volume and a per-weight basis. The proposed model and findings on the load transfer and the energy absorption in multi-walled CNTs directly contribute to a better understanding of their structural and mechanical properties and applications, and are also useful to study the transverse mechanical properties of other one-dimensional tubular nanostructures (e.g., boron nitride nanotubes).