Crystalline Polyethylene Nanofibers with the Theoretical Limit of Young's Modulus

Abstract

A highly crystalline polyethylene nanofiber is deflected by a cantilever under an atomic force microscope. The resulting approach and retract curves on both nanofiber and silicon substrate yield the Young's modulus of the nanofiber. The experiments show that the average Young's modulus of polyethylene nanofibers with diameters from 70 nm to 260 nm can be as high as 312 GPa. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.