Macro and micro methodologies for thermomechanical mirror buckling of freestanding graphene membranes

The thermal mirror buckling behavior of freestanding graphene, which is a particular phenomenon observed in scanning tunneling microscope experiments, has not been analyzed systematically in the existing literature. However, because loads imposed by the scanning tunneling microscope tip are both mechanical and thermal, it is appropriate to regard this behavior as thermomechanical mirror buckling. The mirror buckling behavior is related to geometrical characteristics of a model, such as structure curvature. Therefore, appropriate analytical methods should be determined before examining the deep-seated origin of mirror buckling of graphene mem-branes. In this study, three methods are used separately in both the macroscale and microscale analyses, namely, continuum mechanics, molecular structural mechanics, and molecular dynamics, to analyze the mirror buckling of graphene. A comparison of the theoretical analysis and experimental results shows that, of the three methods, the molecular dynamics method is the most effective and suitable method for examining the thermomechanical mirror buckling behavior of freestanding graphene. The effects of the load magnitudes and graphene membrane radius on the deflection are also analyzed.