Zhao Yue, An Linan, Fang Jiyu
Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering, Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2009 Aug;80(2 Pt 1):021911. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.80.021911. Epub 2009 Aug 13.
The mechanical behavior of self-assembled lipid tubules is an important property which determines their suitability for technological applications. We study the instability of multibilayer lipid tubules (with wall thickness t and external radius R(ext)) beyond elastic response under local radial atomic force microscopy indentations. A discontinuity in force-distance curves associated with the buckling instability of lipid tubules is observed. The critical force at which lipid tubules undergo a buckling transition linearly scales as t/R(ext). In addition, a reduced critical buckling force is found to extend a distance of approximately 1 microm from the end of lipid tubules.
