Correlation between Friction and Conformational Change of Densely Packed Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Film Observed by Atomic Force Microscopy

摘要

Since their discovery [1], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted considerable attention and stimulated intense study. Both experimental [2] and theoretical [3] studies have suggested that CNTs are remarkably resilient, sustaining extreme strain with no signs of brittleness, plasticity, or atomic rearrangements. Moreover, CNTs have excellent mechanical properties, such as extremely high Young's modulus and high tensile strength. These excellent properties of CNTs offer high technological potential in materials science and microelectronics and as elements of micro-electro-mechanical systems. However, there are few reports about the application of macroscopic forms of CNTs, which can utilize the intrinsic mechanical properties of individual CNTs. Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) film is considered to be a promising candidate for innovative tribo-materials. In this paper, we discuss about our nanoscale evaluation of the relationships between the frictional properties and the structure of CNTs using atomic force microscopy (AFM). We used three CNT/SiC samples of different lengths and diameters. We also used highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) for comparison.