We report that freestanding films of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes exhibit super-compressible foamlike behavior. Under compression, the nanotubes collectively form zigzag buckles that can fully unfold to their original length upon load release. Compared with conventional low-density flexible foams, the nanotube films show much higher compressive strength, recovery rate, and sag factor, an...

Several unique optical properties have been obtained from freestanding films of a bent-core compound. Our experimental results indicate the existence of the antiferroelectric biaxial smectic-A (Sm A) phase. The critical exponent associated with the biaxiality through the uniaxial-antiferroelectric biaxial Sm A transition has been measured to be 0.82+/-0.04 , which is in good agreement with our ...

The mechanical properties of freestanding electroplated Cu films were determined by measuring the deflection of Si-framed, pressurized membranes. The films were deformed under plane-strain conditions. The pressure-deflection data are converted into stress-strain curves by means of simple analytical formulae. The microstructure of the Cu films was characterized using scanning electron microscopy...

We show experimentally that unpassivated freestanding nanoscale metal films, subjected to uniaxial tension, show substantial Bauschinger effect (BE) during unloading, even at large overall tensile stresses. Aluminum films (thickness 200–400 nm, grain size 200 nm) show BE at stresses as high as 150 MPa and their plastic strain after unloading is often less than 50% of the expected value. In gold...

When a thin glassy film is strained uniaxially, a shear deformation zone (SDZ) can be observed. The ratio of the thickness of the SDZ to that of the undeformed film is related to the maximum extension ratio, lambda, which depends on the entanglement molecular weight, M(e). We have measured lambda as a function of film thickness in strained freestanding films of polystyrene as a probe of M(e) in...

The fabrication of purely polymeric free-standing structures of nanoscale thickness is technically challenging because of the poor mechanical stability of conventional polymers. Conjugated polymers (CP) composed of rod-like chains with much stronger mechanical properties are exploited here for layer-by-layer assembly. We successfully fabricated ultrathin freestanding layer-by-layer conjugated f...

A novel design electroplating spring frame MEMS structure specimen is demonstrated here. The specimen can be fit into a specially designed microtensile apparatus which is capable of carrying out a series of tests on submicro scale freestanding thin films. Certain thin films applicable in MEMS were tested including sputtered Chrome, Nicole, Copper, Tantalum Nitride thin films. Metal specimens we...

Recently, flexible electronic devices are of increasing interest due to their wide range application fields, including information storage, energy conversion, and wearable implantable electronics. In particular, freestanding inorganic oxide films proved be an extraordinary versatile platform for electronics owing super elasticity, outstanding functionalities, tunability, long-term stability. th...