Effect of initial tension on mechanics of adhered graphene blisters

Abstract

The effect of initial tension on mechanics of adhered graphene blisters is investigated by extending Hencky’s solution to cases with an initial tension. The system parameters including maximum blister deflection, pressure difference across the membrane, and critical delamination pressure under various initial tensions are modeled and calculated. The dependences of critical pressure on the radius and depth of etched microcavity are also demonstrated and compared with the previous work which does not consider the initial tension. The results show that the added adhesion energy between monolayer graphene membrane and SiO2 substrate can reach 0.0954 J/m2 with a reported maximum initial tension of 2.4 N/m taken into account, which accounts for 21.2 % of the measured average value 0.45 J/m2. Thus, the initial tension should be considered in further adhesion energy measurements of graphene/substrate interfaces.