Abstract
We have studied deformation process of a bridged carbon nanotube (CNT) during Joule heating by in-situ transmission electron microscopy. Although thinning process at central portion of the bridged CNTs has been reported, shrinking deformation along an axial direction was observed in the present study. This result suggested that these deformation process strongly depended on how release the tensile stress applied to the CNTs caused by sublimation of carbon atoms during the Joule heating, so that the stress were measured by using an cantilevered probe with rather low spring constant as the electrode of the Joule heating. Experimental result indicated that the shrinking deformation of CNTs occurred with loading tensile stress under 0.31N/m^2. It is also suggested that carbon atoms selectively evaporate from a specific region, where many topological defects such as 5- or 7- membered rings are gathered, in the shrinking deformation.
