title: Radial elasticity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We report an experimental and a theoretical study of the radial elasticity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a function of external radius. We use atomic force microscopy and apply small indentation amplitudes in order to stay in the linear elasticity regime. The number of layers for a given tube radius is inferred from transmission electron microscopy, revealing constant ratios of external to internal radii. This enables a comparison with molecular dynamics results, which also shed some light onto the applicability of Hertz theory in this context. Using this theory, we find a radial Young modulus strongly decreasing with increasing radius and reaching an asymptotic value of 30+/-10 GPa.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 837 State Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Palaci
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fedrigo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brune
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klinke
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riedo