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The effect of surface/interface stress on mechanical behaviors may become remarkable when the characteristic size of a structure decreases to nanoscale. Various problems have been analyzed to reveal the size-dependent mechanical behaviors of nano structures with curved surfaces/interfaces. In this work, the problem of planar surfaces/interfaces is addressed. The generalized Young–Laplace equation is presented for a planar interface and the propagation behavior of Love wave in a nanocoating is discussed. Parametric studies indicate that if the surface effect of the nanocoating is considered the phase velocity of Love wave shows notable size-dependency on both the nanocoating thickness and the wavelength. When these two sizes are both in nanoscale, the phase velocity further depends on the relative size between them. In addition, increasing the residual surface stress may reduce the phase velocity of Love wave.

Thermal fluctuations of microtubules (MTs) and other cytoskeletal filaments govern to a great extent the complex rheological properties of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells. In recent years, much effort has been put into capturing the dynamics of these fluctuations by means of analytical and numerical models. These attempts have been very successful for, but also remain limited to, isotropic polymers. To correctly interpret experimental work on (strongly) anisotropic semiflexible polymers, there is a need for a numerical modeling tool that accurately captures the dynamics of polymers with anisotropic material properties. In the current study, we present a finite element (FE) framework for simulating the thermal dynamics of a single anisotropic semiflexible polymer. First, we demonstrated the accuracy of our framework by comparison of the simulated mean square displacement (MSD) of the end-to-end distance with analytical predictions based on the worm-like chain model. Then, we implemented a transversely isotropic material model, characteristic for biopolymers such as MTs, and studied the persistence length for various ratios between the longitudinal shear modulus, G₁₂, and corresponding Young's modulus, E₁. Finally, we put our findings in context by addressing a recent experimental work on grafted transversely isotropic MTs. In that research, a simplified static mechanical model was used to deduce a very high level of MT anisotropy to explain the observation that the persistence length of grafted MTs increases as contour length increases. We showed, by means of our FE framework, that the anisotropic properties cannot account for the reported length-dependent persistence length.

Zinc oxide nanobelts, grown by a solid–vapor phase thermal sublimation process, are stimulating extensive interest because of their semiconducting and piezoelectric properties, diverse functionalities and chemical stability. For nanomanipulation and nanomeasurement of an individual ZnO nanobelts, in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique is a unique approach. In this paper, mechanical resonance of a single ZnO nanobelt, induced by an alternative electric field, was studied by in situ TEM. Due to the rectangular cross-section of the nanobelt, two fundamental resonance modes have been observed in corresponding to two orthogonal transverse vibration directions, showing the versatile applications of nanobelts as nanocantilevers and nanoresonators. The bending modulus of the ZnO nanobelts was measured to be ~ 52 GPa and the damping time constant of the resonance in vacuum of 10–8 Torr was ~ 1.2 ms. The ZnO nanobelts are promising in potential applications as nanocantilevers, nanoresonators and nanoactuators.

An abundant trait of biological protein materials are hierarchical nanostructures, ranging through atomistic, molecular to macroscopic scales. By utilizing the recently developed Hierarchical Bell Model, here we show that the use of hierarchical structures leads to an extended physical dimension in the material design space that resolves the conflict between disparate material properties such as strength and robustness, a limitation faced by many synthetic materials. We report materiomics studies in which we combine a large number of alpha-helical elements in all possible hierarchical combinations and measure their performance in the strength-robustness space while keeping the total material use constant. We find that for a large number of constitutive elements, most random structural combinations of elements (> 98%) lead to either high strength or high robustness, reflecting the so-called banana-curve performance in which strength and robustness are mutually exclusive properties. This banana-curve type behavior is common to most engineered materials. In contrast, for few, very specific types of combinations of the elements in hierarchies (< 2%) it is possible to maintain high strength at high robustness levels. This behavior is reminiscent of naturally observed material performance in biological materials, suggesting that the existence of particular hierarchical structures facilitates a fundamental change of the material performance. The results suggest that biological materials may have developed under evolutionary pressure to yield materials with multiple objectives, such as high strength and high robustness, a trait that can be achieved by utilization of hierarchical structures. Our results indicate that both the formation of hierarchies and the assembly of specific hierarchical structures play a crucial role in achieving these mechanical traits. Our findings may enable the development of self-assembled de novo bioinspired nanomaterials based on peptide and protein building blocks.

This paper presents the derivation of the nonlocal equations for curved beams with varying curvature and cross-section. Eringen’s nonlocal constitutive equations are rewritten in cylindrical coordinates and implemented into the classical beam equations considering the effects of axial extension and the shear deformation. Varying distributed loads are also considered in the equations. The governing differential equations of an arbitrary curved beam bearing variable distributed loads are solved exactly by using the initial value method. The displacements, rotation angle about the binormal axis and the force resultants are obtained analytically. The nonlocal equations include the length scale parameter which is also known as nonlocal parameter. Several numerical examples are solved to emphasize the effect of the length scale parameter. A parametric study is also performed to point out the effects of the slenderness ratio, opening angle, loading and boundary conditions and also axial and shear deformations on the static behavior of the beam.

This paper provides a comprehensive review on the methodological development and technical applications of in situ microscopy, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), developed in the last decade for investigating the structure-mechanical-property relationship of a single one-dimensional nanomaterial, such as nanotube, nanowire and nanobelt. The paper covers both the fundamental methods and detailed applications, including AFM-based static elastic and plastic measurements of a carbon nanotube, external field-induced resonance dynamic measurement of elastic modulus of a nanotube/nanowire, nano-indentation, and in situ plastic deformation process of a nanowire. Details are presented on the elastic property measurements and direct imaging of plastic to superplastic behavior of semiconductor nanowires at atomic resolution, providing quantitative information on the mechanical behavior of nanomaterials. The studies on the Si and SiC nanowires clearly demonstrated their distinct, "unexpected" and superior plastic mechanical properties. Finally, a perspective is given on the future of nanomechanics.

Incorporating the bond–order–length–strength correlation mechanism [C. Q. Sun, Prog. Solid State Chem.35, 1 (2007)] and Born's criterion for melting [J. Chem. Phys.7, 591 (1939)] into the conventional Hall–Petch relationship has turned out an analytical expression for the size and temperature dependence of the mechanical strength of nanograins, known as the inverse Hall–Petch relationship (IHPR). Reproduction of the measured IHPR of Ni, NiP, and TiO₂ nanocrystals revealed that: (i) the competition between the size-induced energy–density gain and atomic cohesive energy loss in the surface skins of nanograins originate from the IHPR; (ii) the competition between the activation and inhibition of atomic dislocations motion activate the entire IHPR behavior; (iii) the bond nature involved and the T/T_m ratio between the temperature of operating and the temperature of melting dictate the measured strongest sizes of a given specimen; (iv) a quasimolten phase present before melting determines the size-induced softening and the superplasticity of nanostructures.

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are commonly realized in the form of simple movable suspended nanostructures, such as doubly-clamped beams, cantilevered beams or torsion pedals. NEMS come with extremely high fundamental resonance frequencies, diminished effective masses, low spring constants and high in vacuo quality (Q) factors. As such, these structures have received much recent attention for their potential technological applications as well as for realizing a mesoscopic quantum harmonic oscillator.

This chapter presents a review of the variety of approaches for fabricating NEMS devices. The mainstay approach for patterning freely suspended nanostructures is nanomachining based upon electron beam lithography (EBL). This approach has been applied to fabricate silicon, gallium arsenide, silicon carbide, aluminum nitride, diamond and silicon nitride NEMS; variations of EBL based nanomachining have also been used to fabricate nanotube and nanowire NEMS. Among other emerging approaches reviewed herein are approaches based upon nanoimprint lithography, focused ion beams and stencil masks. Important remaining research issues in the field, such as large scale integration of NEMS, are discussed along with concluding remarks.