NANOMATERIAL BEHAVIOUR OF A GOLD MICROCANTILEVER SUBJECTED TO PLASTIC DEFORMATIONS

The nanomechanical material behaviour of a gold microcantilever subjected to plastic deformations is presented in this paper. Using an atomic force microscope, experimental investigations are performed in order to determine the dependence between bending deflections of sample versus applied forces and to estimate the maximum stress in the beam structure. During testing, the force has successive positions on microcantilever, starting from the beam free-end and moving toward to the anchor. The plastic deformation of microcantilever occurs when the force is applied close to the beam anchor and performed large deflections. Finite element analysis is used to visualize the deflection of microcantilever and to estimate the maximum stress.