Tensile properties of polymer nanowires fabricated via two-photon lithography

Ian S Ladner; Michael A Cullinan; Sourabh K Saha

doi:10.1039/c9ra02350j

Tensile properties of polymer nanowires fabricated via two-photon lithography

RSC Adv. 2019 Sep 13;9(49):28808-28813. doi: 10.1039/c9ra02350j. eCollection 2019 Sep 9.

Authors

Ian S Ladner^{1

2}, Michael A Cullinan², Sourabh K Saha^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Engineered Materials & Manufacturing, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Avenue Livermore CA 94550 USA.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin 204 E. Dean Keeton Street Austin TX 78712 USA [email protected].
³ Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA 30332 USA [email protected].

Abstract

Two-photon lithography enables fabrication of complex 3D structures with nanoscale features. However, its utility is limited by the lack of knowledge about the process-property relationship. Here, we have designed micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based miniaturized tensile testers to measure the stress-strain response of the individual polymer nanowires. Measurements demonstrate that geometrically indistinguishable nanowires can exhibit widely varying material behavior ranging from brittle to soft plastic based on processing conditions. In addition, a distinct size-scaling effect was observed for post-processed nanowires wherein thinner nanowires have up to 2 times higher properties. The process-property characterization presented here will be critical for predictive design of functional 3D structures with nanoscale features.