Determination of the elastic modulus of micro- and nanowires/tubes using a buckling-based metrology

A buckling-based method for measuring the mechanical properties of micro- and nanowires/tubes with a general cross-sectional shape is investigated. For a wire/tube bonded to a soft elastic substrate, a simple scaling relation between the characteristic buckling wavelength and the material and geometric parameters of the system is established based on an approximated theoretical model. This relation is examined by using fully three-dimensional, large-scale finite-element computations with the guidance of dimensional analysis.