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Updated: May 30, 2026

Manufacturing of Three-dimensionally Microstructured Nanocomposites through Microfluidic Infiltration
Published on: March 12, 2014
Interaction stresses in carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites
Meysam Rahmat1, Kaushik Das, Pascal Hubert
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2K6.
Abstract:
A new technique of atomic force microscopy interaction measurement is used to obtain the three-dimensional stress field in nanocomposites made of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. This original approach expands the current capability of AFM from imaging and force mapping to three-dimensional stress field measurements. Latest developments in the field have been limited to three-dimensional imaging at the surface only, and one value (adhesion) force mapping. The current work provides the interaction stress results for a PMMA-SWNT nanocomposite and shows a maximum estimated load transfer of less than 7 MPa (the maximum attraction stress estimated). This value is obtained for an unfunctionalized nanocomposite and hence the interaction stress is mainly based on van der Waals interactions. This means that for this system, carbon nanotubes behave similar to an elastic-fully plastic material with a yield stress of less than 7 MPa. This phenomenon illustrates why carbon nanotubes may not show their strong mechanical properties (yield strength of above 10 GPa) in polymeric nanocomposites.
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