Extracting nanowire mechanical properties from three-point bendig test

A new adhesive receding contact model is presented in this paper for the nanowire in three-point bending test. Because of its flexurality, the nanowire in test may lift-off/separate from its supporting elastic medium, which can dramatically change the nanowire boundary conditions and deformations. The changes of the nanowire boundary conditions and deformations have the significant impact on the interpretation of the experimental data on the nanowire material properties. Through the model developed here, some explanations are offered to the different even contradicting observations on the nanowire material properties and the nanowire boundary conditions changing trends found in recent experiments.