High-performance flexural fatigue of carbon nanotube yarns

Carbon nanotube yarns (CNTY) possess good specific strength and specific conductivity. As such, their potential for commercial applications is significant. Fatigue performance is a significant consideration in yarn/wire applications. In this study, the flexural fatigue performance of CNTY spun from super-aligned carbon nanotube arrays was investigated using a reversed bending test. The results showed that CNTY exhibited excellent resistance to pure flexural fatigue, significantly outperforming stainless steel wire; CNTY failed where a combination of flexural fatigue and tension-tension fatigue had special hollow fracture morphology, and CNTY resistance remained fundamentally unchanged in the combination fatigue process.