On the tensile strength distribution of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Individual multiwalled carbon nanotubes grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) were tensile tested within the chamber of an electron microscope using an atomic force microscope-based technique. Weibull-Poisson statistics could accurately model the nanotube tensile strength data. Weibull shape and scale parameters of 1.7 and 109 GPa were obtained. The former reflects a wide variability in strength similar to that observed for high-modulus graphite fibers, while the latter indicates that the irregular CVD-grown tube wall structure requires, in some cases, higher breaking forces than more regular tube wall structures. This apparent strengthening mechanism is most likely caused by an enhanced interaction between the walls of the nanotube. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.