Development of novel nanoscale tensile test experiment method for brittle 2D materials.

Abstract

Nanomaterials are known to have excellent mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. 2D materials emerged as a promising nanomaterial for future nanotechnology in many scientific fields. Despite their remarkable characteristics, less is known about their physical properties and this greatly hinders their active engineering applications. Due to their innate minuscule size and brittleness, analysis of 2D material’s fracture behavior is very difficult. In this thesis paper, the development of an experimental method of a novel 2D material transfer method to a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) device is discussed. For the MEMS device, PTP (Push-to-Pull) MEMS device developed in the RNL at KAIST NQE has been selected. The aforementioned device features a larger mobile part mass and higher beam stiffness which effectively help decelerate the crack growth rate and ultimately observe the progression of brittle failure. However, few structural constraints hinder the use of conventional 2D material transfer methods. As a solution, a novel 2D material transfer method using PDMS and PPC was developed. This novel transfer method successfully alleviated the issues and transferred a material sample to the device. The developed method was verified by the nanoscale tensile test experiment of a graphene sample.