Nature 381, 678 - 680 (20 June 1996); doi:10.1038/381678a0

Exceptionally high Young's modulus observed for individual carbon nanotubes

M. M. J. Treacy^*, T. W. Ebbesen^* & J. M. Gibson^†

^* NEC Research Institute, Inc., 4 Independence Way, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
^† University of Illinois, Department of Physics, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

CARBON nanotubes are predicted to have interesting mechanical properties—in particular, high stiffness and axial strength—as a result of their seamless cylindrical graphitic structure^1–5. Their mechanical properties have so far eluded direct measurement, however, because of the very small dimensions of nanotubes. Here we estimate the Young's modulus of isolated nanotubes by measuring, in the transmission electron microscope, the amplitude of their intrinsic thermal vibrations. We find that carbon nanotubes have exceptionally high Young's moduli, in the terapascal (TPa) range. Their high stiffness, coupled with their low density, implies that nanotubes might be useful as nanoscale fibres in strong, lightweight composite materials.

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