Nonlinear hardening and softening resonances in micromechanical cantilever-nanotube systems originated from nanoscale geometric nonlinearities

Micro/nanomechanical resonators often exhibit nonlinear behaviors due to their small size and their ease to realize relatively large amplitude oscillation. In this work, we design a nonlinear micromechanical cantilever system with intentionally integrated geometric nonlinearity realized through a nanotube coupling. Multiple scales analysis was applied to study the nonlinear dynamics which was compared favorably with experimental results. The geometrically positioned nanotube introduced nonlinearity efficiently into the otherwise linear micromechanical cantilever oscillator, evident from the acquired responses showing the representative hysteresis loop of a nonlinear dynamic system. It was further shown that a small change in the geometry parameters of the system produced a complete transition of the nonlinear behavior from hardening to softening resonance.

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► We realize intentional hardening and softening nonlinearity introduced by a nanotube.
► Local nanoscale modification of a linear microscale cantilever system results in strongly nonlinear global dynamics.
► A small change in geometric design causes a transition between hardening and softening resonance.