Mechanical properties of ultrahigh-strength gold nanowires

A method to measure the spectrum of nanowire mechanical properties based on nanowire bending under the lateral load from an atomic force microscope tip, was analyzed. The method was based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) that unambiguously measures the full spectrum of mechanical properties, ranging from young's modulus, yield strength,plastic deformation and failure. This method involved AFM lateral manipulation of nanowires that are mechanically fixed to and positioned over trenches on a silica substrate. It was observed that for gold nanowires, young's modulus is independent of diameter, whereas the yield stength is largest for the smallest diameter wires, with strengths up to 100 times that of bulk materials.