Friction of partially embedded vertically aligned carbon nanofibers inside elastomers
- NanoRobotics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 (United States)
Vertically aligned carbon nanofibers partially embedded inside polyurethane (eVACNFs) are proposed as a robust high friction fibrillar material with a compliant backing. Carbon nanofibers with 50-150 nm in diameter and 20-30 {mu}m in length are vertically grown on silicon and transferred completely inside an elastomer by vacuum molding. By using time controlled and selective oxygen plasma etching, fibers are partially released up to 5 {mu}m length. Macroscale friction experiments show that eVACNFs exhibit reproducible effective friction coefficients up to 1. Besides high friction, the proposed fabrication method improves fiber-substrate bond strength, and enables uniform height nanofibers with a compliant backing.
- OSTI ID:
- 21016083
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2767997; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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