In situ tensile testing of nanofibers by combining atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

A nanomechanical testing set-up is developed by integrating an atomic force microscope (AFM) for force measurements with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to provide imaging capabilities. Electrospun nanofibers of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), nylon-6 and biological mineralized collagen fibrils (MCFs) from antler bone were manipulated and tensile-tested using the AFM-SEM set-up. The complete stress-strain behavior to failure of individual nanofibers was recorded and a diversity of mechanical properties observed, highlighting how this technique is able to elucidate mechanical behavior due to structural composition at nanometer length scales.