Measurement of the Elastic Properties and Intrinsic Strength of Monolayer Graphene
2008/07/17 by Changgu Lee, Xiaoding Wei, Jeffrey W. Kysar +1 · 20,760 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic force microscopy #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Composite material #Condensed matter physics #Elastic modulus #Elasticity (physics) #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Graphene #Graphene research and applications #Graphite #Linear elasticity #Materials science #Monolayer #Nanoindentation #Nanomechanics #Nanotechnology #Physics #Stiffness #Thermodynamics
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1157996
published in Science 321(5887), 385-388 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2008/07/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract
We measured the elastic properties and intrinsic breaking strength of free-standing monolayer graphene membranes by nanoindentation in an atomic force microscope. The force-displacement behavior is interpreted within a framework of nonlinear elastic stress-strain response, and yields second- and third-order elastic stiffnesses of 340 newtons per meter (N m(-1)) and -690 Nm(-1), respectively. The breaking strength is 42 N m(-1) and represents the intrinsic strength of a defect-free sheet. These quantities correspond to a Young's modulus of E = 1.0 terapascals, third-order elastic stiffness of D = -2.0 terapascals, and intrinsic strength of sigma(int) = 130 gigapascals for bulk graphite. These experiments establish graphene as the strongest material ever measured, and show that atomically perfect nanoscale materials can be mechanically tested to deformations well beyond the linear regime.
Citations
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