Dynamic stiffness of the contact between a carbon nanotube and a flat substrate in a peeling geometry

Abstract : We study the physics of adhesion and the contact mechanics at the nanoscale with a peeling experiment of a carbon nanotube on a flat substrate. Using an interferometric atomic force microscope and an extended force modulation protocol, we investigate the frequency response of the stiffness of the nano-contact from DC to 20 kHz. We show that this dynamic stiffness is only weakly frequency dependent, increasing by a factor 2 when the frequency grows by 3 orders of magnitude. Such behavior may be the signature of amorphous relaxations during the mechanical solicitation at the nano-scale.