Graphene fatigue through van der Waals interactions
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Updated: Dec 5, 2025

Advanced Self-Healing Asphalt Reinforced by Graphene Structures: An Atomistic Insight
Published on: May 31, 2022
Teng Cui1, Kevin Yip1, Aly Hassan1
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S3G8, Canada.
Abstract:
Graphene is often in contact with other materials through weak van der Waals (vdW) interactions. Of particular interest is the graphene-polymer interface, which is constantly subjected to dynamic loading in applications, including flexible electronics and multifunctional coatings. Through in situ cyclic loading, we directly observed interfacial fatigue propagation at the graphene-polymer interface, which was revealed to satisfy a modified Paris' law. Furthermore, cyclic loading through vdW contact was able to cause fatigue fracture of even pristine graphene through a combined in-plane shear and out-of-plane tear mechanism. Shear fracture was found to mainly initiate at the fold junctions induced by cyclic loading and propagate parallel to the loading direction. Fracture mechanics analysis was conducted to explain the kinetics of an exotic self-tearing behavior of graphene during cyclic loading. This work offers mechanistic insights into the dynamic reliability of graphene and graphene-polymer interface, which could facilitate the durable design of graphene-based structures.
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