2014 Mechanical experiments on thin threads in discotic liquid crystal are described. Thread resonance under oscillating electric field excitation allows the measurement of the surface tension. Buckling instabilities are observed under mechanical compression and also under magnetic field. All these effects, dominated by surface tension after plastic relaxation, are characteristic of the discoti...

Beta-solenoids are a class of protein nanotube structures that are observed in virulence factors, prion proteins and amyloid fibrils. Here we investigate the compressive strength of the triple-beta-helix solenoid structure found in the cell puncture needle of the bacteriophage T4 virus. We characterize the compressive mechanical strength of this protein nanotube using full-atomistic molecular d...

In this study, using the non-local elasticity theory, the buckling and vibration analysis of triple- walled ZnO piezoelectric Timoshenko beam on elastic Pasternak foundation is analytically investigated under magneto-electro-thermo-mechanical loadings. Using the Timoshenko beam free body diagram, the equilibrium equation of Timoshenko nano-beam model is obtained and solved by Navier’s method fo...

We describe experimental and theoretical studies of the buckling mechanics in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on elastomeric substrates. The system involves randomly oriented SiNWs grown using established procedures on silicon wafers, and then transferred and organized into aligned arrays on prestrained slabs of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Releasing the prestrain leads to nonlinear mechanical buck...

Submitted for the MAR14 Meeting of The American Physical Society Instability and Wave Propagation in Structured 3D Composites NARGES KAYNIA, NICHOLAS X. FANG, MARY C. BOYCE, Massachusetts Inst of Tech MIT — Many structured composites found in nature possess undulating and wrinkled interfacial layers that regulate mechanical, chemical, acoustic, adhesive, thermal, electrical and optical function...

This study reports the mechanical response of distinct carbon nanotube (CNT) morphologies as revealed by flat punch in situ nanoindentation in a scanning electron microscope. We find that the location of incipient deformation varies significantly by changing the CNT growth parameters. The initial buckles formed close to the growth substrate in 70 and 190 μm tall CNT forests grown with low press...