Lu Dong, Chen Haibin, Wu Jingshen, Chan Chi Ming
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Sep;11(9):7789-93. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2011.4720.
Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are a naturally occurring nanotubular aluminosilicate mineral, which has been used to prepare nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties. In order to understand the roles of nanotubes during the deformation and fracture of nanocomposites, a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscope (TEM) with a bending stage was used to measure the Young's modulus of individual HNTs. TEM micrographs showed that the HNTs were surprising flexible and could be bent to almost 90 degrees without fracture. There was no observable reduction in the cross-sectional area of the bent HNTs. The findings suggest that HNTs, as a nanofiller, have a good potential to be used in high-performance structural materials, especially polymer-based nanocomposites.
埃洛石纳米管（HNTs）是一种天然存在的纳米管状铝硅酸盐矿物，已被用于制备具有优异机械性能的纳米复合材料。为了了解纳米管在纳米复合材料变形和断裂过程中的作用，使用了一台带有弯曲台的先进透射电子显微镜（TEM）来测量单个HNTs的杨氏模量。TEM显微照片显示，HNTs具有惊人的柔韧性，可以弯曲到近90度而不破裂。弯曲后的HNTs横截面积没有明显减小。研究结果表明，HNTs作为一种纳米填料，在高性能结构材料，特别是聚合物基纳米复合材料中具有良好的应用潜力。
