Measurement of the Young's moduli of individual polyethylene oxide and glass nanofibres

We have used scanned electrospinning to deposit oriented polyethylene oxide and silica glass fibres over trenches etched in silicon. We measured the Young's moduli of the fibres using an atomic force microscope. The Young's moduli of the glass fibres agree with values calculated from previously measured mechanical resonance frequencies of similar fibres. The Young's moduli of the polyethylene oxide fibres are significantly larger than those reported for polyethylene oxide bulk and films, suggesting molecular orientation in the fibres.