Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117

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Physica E
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/physe

Size dependent stability analysis of circular ultrathin films in elastic medium

with consideration of surface energies
Abbas Assadi n, Behrooz Farshi 1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST), Tehran 16887, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o abstract

Article history: In this article, analytical framework is developed for size dependent symmetric stability and self-
Received 18 December 2010 instability of circular nanoplates including surface effects using modified Kirchhoff plate theory. The
Received in revised form surrounding elastic medium is modeled as Winkler elastic foundation and its effect is comprehensively
12 January 2011
studied on self-instability problems. The derived explicit solutions contain Bessel functions with
Accepted 14 January 2011
Available online 25 January 2011
modified arguments reflecting the size dependency of the buckling loads. In order to check the results
an inverse formulation is presented for effective Young’s modulus using the buckling loads to be
verified by previous experimental results for nanowires. Several numerical examples are given for two
types of materials with positive and negative surface properties to show the general trends of size
dependencies. Some problems and limitations are explored for consistency of results with experiments
and suggestions for future works.
& 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Externally actuated ultrathin films have been used in nanoe-
lectromechanical systems (NEMS) such as radio-frequency (RF)
switches, microscaled pumps and electrostatic actuators [1].
Nanoplates with different geometries have been synthesized
and stabilized for various materials in chemical environments
using growth methods [2,3]. Thus, appropriate predictions of the
mechanical behavior of such nanoplates become an essential
issue spurred by shortcomings of the corresponding classical
theories. An important reason for deviation of the mechanical
behaviors of nanostructures relates to the additional properties of
external surfaces of materials, which are ignored by correspond-
ing classical theories. Gurtin and Murdoch [4] developed a
mathematical framework to derive the constitutive relation of
material surfaces emphasizing on linear isotropic elastic solids
based on satisfaction of equilibrium equations at bulk and surface
materials. They showed that the surface effects involve surface
elasticity, surface residual stress and surface mass density. On the
other hand, molecular dynamics or atomistic calculations are
used to calculate the values of surface parameters for crystalline
materials having good agreements with analytical solutions [5].
DeVecchio and Bhushan [6] developed a quantitative experimen-
tal technique using atomic force microscope (AFM) tips to
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +982177240540(2913); fax: +98 21 77240488.
E-mail addresses: Abbasasadi@mecheng.iust.ac.ir (A. Assadi),
Farshi@iust.ac.ir (B. Farshi).
1
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering (Rtd.).
measure the value of surface elasticity for ultrathin films. Zhou
and Huang [7] showed that the competition between atomic
coordination and electron redistribution on the surface parts
defines the nature of the surface properties for different material
types and crystallographic directions.
Due to the reduction in surface to volume ratios at large scales,
the effects of surface properties diminish, thus indicating size
dependent mechanical behaviors for nanoscaled structural ele-
ments [8]. It is shown that existence of additional energies at the
surfaces always changes the geometry of the nanostructures in
order for the equilibrium equations to be satisfied [9]. Several
beam models have been examined to consider the surface energy
effects in size dependent static bending, dynamics and stability of
unidirectional nanostructures [10–12]. In this manner, Liu and
Rajapakse [13] developed a general model to analyze the behavior
of nanobeams with arbitrary cross sections using Gurtin’s con-
tinuum surface theory based on Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko
beam models. Farshi et al. [14] modified the Timoshenko beam
model for size dependent frequency analysis of nanotubes for
transverse vibration under the effect of surface properties.
Wang [15] studied the studied the transverse vibration of fluid-
conveying nanotube with consideration of surface effects. Fu and
Zhang [16] solved the problem of electrically actuated nanobeams
with consideration of surface elasticity using analog equation
methods. Continuing these types of size dependent analysis Fu
et al. [17] studied the effects of the surface energies on nonlinear
bending and vibration nanobeams.
It can be demonstrated that surface stresses change the
effective stiffness of thin films at nanoscale exhibiting size

1386-9477/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physe.2011.01.011
1112 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117

dependent mechanical behavior [18,19]. Lu et al. generalized

Kirchhoff and Mindlin plate theories to include the effect of
additional surface properties illustrating the size dependent
mechanical behavior of nanoplates [20]. Huang [21] modified
the nonlinear Kirchhoff plate theory with Von-Karman nonlinear-
ity assumptions for size dependent bending, buckling and vibra-
tion of nanoplates. Assadi et al. [22] used the classical plate theory
to investigate the dynamic behavior of nanoplates in thermal
environments using size dependent Young’s elastic modulus with
additional surface properties. Sheng et al. [23] used state space
approach of laminated structures for three dimensional elasticity
analysis of nanoplates including surface properties. Circular
nanoplates have been widely used in NEMS for different applica-
tions under various kinds of electrical or mechanical external
excitations [24]. Nabian et al. studied the pull-in instability of
circular microscale plates under uniform hydrostatic and non- Fig. 1. (a) Schematic plot of a circular nanoplate with upper and lower thin skin
uniform electrostatic pressures [25]. Assadi and Farshi [26] stu- layers carrying surface effects. (b) TEM image of Ag nanoplates with an average
died the transverse vibration of circular nanoplates with con- diameter of 50 nm [3].
sideration of surface energies and obtained the size dependent
natural frequencies and vibration mode shapes. Wang et al. The displacement components in polar coordinate in the case of
studied the self-instability and bending of nanoplates with con- symmetric deflection of Kirchhoff plate models are given as follows:
sideration of the stress fields in the bulk part of nanoplates due to @w
the effects of surface residual stresses and obtained results in the ur ¼ z ; uy ¼ 0 ð1Þ
@r
presence of surface elasticity. They calculated the critical plate
Using Eq. (1) the resulting strain field from the induced
sizes in self-instability problem of silicon nanoplates for different
displacement components can be obtained as
aspect ratios [27].
It is to be noted that in reality many other parameters change @ur @2 w
the mechanical behavior of nanostructures, which must be err ¼ ¼ z 2 ð2  1Þ
@r @r
considered to obtain exact mechanical behavior. Since the impact
of some are very low they may be neglected in the analysis. Shim ur z @w
eyy ¼ ¼ ð2  2Þ
et al. [28] studied the effect of surface reconstruction on size r r @r
dependent behavior of silicon nanoplates under inplane deforma- It must be noted that since the displacement components
tion for different crystallographic directions. Guo and Zhao [29] taken are the same as for the bulk and surface materials then
studied the effective elastic modulus of nanofilms with the Poisson’s ratio of these two parts will have the same values. This
relaxation on the surface of the nanofilm taken into consideration assumption was inherently made by some previous works in the
for different distances of atomic layers on nanomaterials’ sur- literature [20,21]. Using generalized Hook’s law the stress com-
faces. Ru modeled the energy dissipation near the material ponents in the circular plate for the bulk part is shown to be
surfaces using the viscoelastic surface model by extending the !
Zener elastic model for the surface materials. The source of energy E Ez @2 w u @w
sbrr ¼ ð err þ ue yy Þ ¼ þ ð3  1Þ
dissipation may be the interior frictions or the effect of adjacent 1u2 1u2 @r 2 r @r
media near the surfaces such as air molecules [30]. !
In this study, size dependent symmetric modes of stability b E Ez 1 @w @2 w
syy ¼ ðe þuerr Þ ¼ þu 2 ð3  2Þ
and self-instability of circular ultrathin films is studied with 1u2 yy 1u2 r @r @r
consideration of surface effects. The Kirchhoff plate model
is modified and generalized to include the effects of surface sbry ¼ 0 ð3  3Þ
elasticity and surface residual stresses. In order to verify the
obtained results an inverse problem formulation is used to get the Next it is required to show the constitutive relations of material
effective Young’s modulus of nanoplates and then try to compare surfaces in elastic solids. According to the simplified form of Gurtin-
them with those of nanowires obtained from experimental Murdoch surface theories these relations are given as [33]
approaches.
ssab ¼ ts dab þ ls esaa dab þ 2ms esab ð4  1Þ

2. Problem statement
ssgz ¼ ts w,xg ð4  2Þ

In Eq. (4) the Greek subscripts stand for the directions of two
Fig. 1(a) shows a circular nanoplate with radius R and thick- orthogonal unit vectors tangent to the material surface. If r and y
ness h. The elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the bulk part are are taken as the circular coordinate components and using the
indicated by E and u, respectively. In this case ls and ms stand for Lame constants with surface elastic modulus Es and surface
the surface Lame constants while surface residual stress is shown Poisson’s ratio as us ¼u, then the relations for surface stress
by ts. The structure is subjected to the axisymmetric transverse components using Eq. (3) can be obtained as follows:
load f(r) and inplane load Nr, which is uniformly distributed over !
the cross section. The transverse displacement of the plate is s7 s Es h @2 w u @w
srr ¼ t 8 þ ð5  1Þ
indicated by w while r and y are the components of polar 2ð1u2 Þ @r 2 r @r
coordinates. Furthermore, Fig. 1(b) from Ref. [3] shows silver
nanoplates in different oval shaped geometries, which clearly !
Es h @2 w 1 @w
shows the possible existence of approximately circular nanoplate ssyy7 ¼ ts 8 u þ ð5  2Þ
2ð1u2 Þ @r 2 r @r
in many materials.
 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117 1113

@w 1 @w side and be assumed as external loading without any satisfactory

ssrz7 ¼ 7 ts ; ssyz7 ¼ 7 ts ¼0 ð5  3Þ justification. On the other hand it is obvious that because of the
@r r @y
residual surface stresses the circular plate is effectively pre-
In the above relation positive and negative signs stand for
stressed to maintain the equilibrium state. Although, the defor-
upper and lower surfaces, respectively. In the above equations it
mation free nanoplate is in self-equilibrium state, this is upset
is observed that an additional shear stress ssaz is imposed on the
when it undergoes deflection and hence the reason for self-
deflected structure due to the surface residual stresses. In the
instability situation. This is due to deformation related additional
next steps, the effect of this stress component will be clarified
terms in the derived relations resulting from Eq. (4-2). Accord-
when used in equilibrium equations. Having the stress compo-
ingly, these terms will also alter the magnitude of critical buckling
nents with respect to the deflection w the resultant bending
loads, which will be discussed in the next sections. Sometimes
moments action on the plate cross section can be obtained as
the induced internal stress from residual surface stresses even in
Z h=2 the absence of direct inplane loadings can cause self-instability in
h
Mrr ¼ ðssrrþ ss
rr Þ þ sbrr z dz ð6  1Þ the structure, which is discussed later in this article. Therefore,
2 h=2
the right hand side term must not be entered from the start
Z h=2 because the self-equilibrium condition relates to the strain
h sþ
My y ¼ ðs ss
y yÞ þ sby y z dz ð6  2Þ independent part of Eq. (4-1) and not Eq. (4-2), which relates to
2 yy h=2
the shear stress resultants.
Substituting from Eqs. (3) and (5) into Eq. (6) yields the Substituting from Eq. (7) into Eq. (9) gives the differential
resultant bending moments with respect to transverse displace- equation for the static bending of circular nanoplates under
ment w only. The final simplified forms of these relations are general transverse loadings as
given in the following forms:
! @2 1@
@2 w u @w Deff r2r ðr2r wÞ2ts r2r w ¼ f ðrÞ; r2r ¼ þ ð10Þ
Mrr ¼ Deff þ ð7  1Þ @r 2 r @r
@r 2 r @r
If the plate is now under outwardly positive radial loading Nr
!   then the additional term from classical plate theory is added to
@2 w 1 @w h2 Eh the above differential equation [31,32]; then the generalized
My y ¼ Deff u 2 þ ; Deff ¼ 2
Es þ ð7  2Þ
@r r @r 2ð1u Þ 6 differential equation for size dependent static bending and buck-
ling of circular nanoscaled plates can be derived as follows:
Considering roughly the order of magnitude of the included
parameter in the effective stiffness Deff, it can be seen that for d2 1d
Deff r2r ðr2r wÞ2ts r2r wNr r2r w ¼ f ðrÞ; r2r ¼ þ ð11Þ
thicknesses larger than approximately h410 nm the effect of dr 2 r dr
surface elasticity can be neglected with only a slight error. This In the absence of external transverse loading for the case of an
observation is alluded to in the conclusion section to interpret the embedded circular nanoplate resting on Winkler type elastic
observed size dependent behaviors and to show the contest foundation k, Eq. (11) is simply reformulated as
between surface residual stress and surface elasticity in deviation 2 2 2
of the results from classical theories. The third expression of Deff rr ðrr wÞð2ts þ Nr Þrr wþ kw ¼ 0 ð12Þ
Eq. (5) is used to modify and generalize the equilibrium equa- Thus the above is the buckling equation for an embedded
tions. Assume Qr as the shear resultant acting on the cross section circular nanoplate under uniform radial loading.
perpendicular to r planes then the equilibrium equations can be
written as
@Mr Mr My 3. Solution of the differential equation
Qr ¼ 2ðssrzþ þ ss
rz Þ þ þ ð8  1Þ
@r r
In this section a general closed form solution is obtained for
@Qr Qr the governing differential equation. To start with an alternative
þ þ f ðrÞ ¼ 0 ð8  2Þ
@r r form, Eq. (12) is given as follows:
where f (r) is the external transverse load on the circular plate,   k 2ts þNr
which in here is assumed to be symmetric with respect to the z
r4r þ b2 r2r þ l4 w ¼ 0; l4 ¼ eff , b2 ¼  ð13Þ
D Deff
axis. Substituting from Eq. (5) into Eq. (8-1) and then using the In this form it must be noted that Nr must assume negative
result in Eq. (8-2) gives a unique equation for the static equili- values for the above relations to be meaningful expressions.
brium of the circular nanoplates as Eq. (12) can be written as two separate differential equations as
!
@2 Mrr 2 @Mrr 1 @My y 2 follows:
s @ w 1 @w
þ  þ f ðrÞ ¼ 2t þ ð9Þ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
@r 2 r @r r @r @r 2 r @r
d2 W1 1 dW1 2 2
b2  b4 4l4
þ þ Z W1 ¼ 0; Z ¼ ð14  1Þ
It must be noted that the right hand side of Eq. (9) relates to dr 2 r dr 2
the effect of residual surface stress. It has been seen that in some qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
earlier research papers this term has been assumed as external d2 W2 1 dW2 2 2 b2 þ b4 4l4
transverse loading without any attempt to derive it from surface þ þ c W2 ¼ 0; c ¼ ; ð14  2Þ
dr 2 r dr 2
constitutive equations, which can be the only justification in
verification of the relations (10–12 and 14). As shown here, this Z2 c2 ¼ l4 ð14  3Þ
expression is obtained from Eq. (4-2), which shows the changes in
Eq. (14) are the Bessel differential equations of the first type,
the magnitude of shear stress resultant acting on the cross section
whose general solutions can be stated by the following Bessel
due to surface properties. However Eq. (4-2) is not clearly clarified
function:
in the above cited references. Nevertheless, in the final relation
derived above the right hand side does play a role similar to an W1 ¼ C1 J0 ðZrÞ þC2 Y0 ðZrÞ ð15  1Þ
external loading. In this manner, some terms such as the effect of
surface elasticity in Eq. (9) can also be moved to the right hand W2 ¼ C3 J0 ðcrÞ þ C4 Y0 ðcrÞ ð15  2Þ
1114 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117

Since Y0(r) goes to infinity at the origin (r ¼0) and applying the as follows:
geometric limitations for a circular plate results in C2 ¼C4 ¼0. The  cr,n  2 eff
remaining terms are obviously the response of circular nanoplates N  ¼ 2ts þ kR þ D c2 ð23Þ
r 2 n
2
cn R
under axisymmetric radial loading and arbitrary boundary con-
ditions. In order to explore the size dependency of the problem the
wn ¼ W1n þ W2n ¼ C1n J0 ðZn rÞ þ C3n J0 ðcn rÞ ð16Þ normalized buckling load (NBL) is introduced, which is the ratio
of the buckling load with consideration of surface effects to the
cr,n
Using the clamped boundary condition for a circular ultrathin buckling loads without surface properties N~ r as follows:
film one of the conditions is w¼0 at r ¼R. Substituting this 2 2 4
relation into Eq. (16) and simplifying the relations yields Nrcr,n 2ts cn R2 þ kR4 cn þDeff R2 cn Eh3
NBL ¼ cr,n ¼ ; D¼
  ~
Nr
2
kR4 cn þDR2 cn
4 12ð1u2 Þ
J0 ðZn RÞ
wn ¼ W1n þ W2n ¼ C1n J0 ðZn rÞ J0 ðcn rÞ ð17Þ ð24Þ
J0 ðcn RÞ

The other condition for clamped boundaries is dw/dr ¼0 at

r ¼R. Applying this condition to Eq. (17) gives the characteristic 4. Numerical examples and discussions
equation for buckling whose roots are used to find the buckling
load. To show the general behavior of the size dependent stability of
cn J0 ðZn RÞJ1 ðcn RÞZn J0 ðcn RÞJ1 ðZn RÞ ¼ 0 ð18Þ circular nanoplates the numerical examples are given for alumi-
num and silicon materials with positive and negative surface
Substituting Eq. (14-3) into Eq. (18) gives another form of the properties, respectively, as follows:
governing characteristic equation of buckling as follows:
 2  2   2  Al: E¼68.50 GPa, u ¼0.35, Es ¼ 6.090 N/m and
cn l l ts ¼0.910 N/m [16].
J0 R J1 ðcn RÞJ0 ðcn RÞJ1 R ¼0 ð19Þ
l cn cn Si [1 0 0]: E¼ 130.0 GPa, u ¼0.24, Es ¼  11.50 N/m and
In this relation l essentially represents the effect of elastic bed.
ts ¼  0.505 N/m [35].
To reduce the amount of calculations here, simplifications are
made in the relation so that the parameters in Eq. (19) are The first example shows the variation in NBL versus the
converted to nanoplate thickness for various values of plate’s radius. The
cn ¼ cn R ð20  1Þ elastic bed constant k for this case is taken equal to zero and
the problem is solved for the first buckling mode. It is generally
 1=4 observed that as the plate thickness gets higher the effect of
k
l ¼ lR ¼ R ð20  2Þ surface properties tend to diminish or conversely NBL tends to
Deff unity for larger h. On the other hand it is observed that the effect
Substituting from Eq. (20) into Eq. (19) the final form of of surface properties is higher for larger nanoplates of larger radii.
characteristic equation results as follows: As mentioned earlier the effect of surface elasticity can almost be
 2 ! ! neglected for h 410 nm with no significant error. Similarly, due to
cn l2   l2 the obtained results in Fig. 2 it must be concluded that the effect
J0 J ðc ÞJ ðc ÞJ ¼0 ð21Þ
l cn 1 n 0 n 1 cn of surface residual stress can also be neglected for thickness
higher than 10 nm. According to the definition of NBL when this
Eq. (20) serves to summarize the effect of geometric para- parameter goes to zero the predicted buckling load by the above
meters and the effects of surface properties all into two para- theory becomes zero. Consequently in this region no external load

meters on andl . Table 1 is made to give the roots of Eq. (21) for
different mode numbers, which can be used for size dependent
buckling analysis of circular nanoplates with consideration of
surface energies.
Now an attempt is made to find the buckling loads with and
also without the surface effects using data of Table 1 for size
dependent stability analysis. From Eq. (14) it can be found that

l4
b2n ¼ c2n þ ð22Þ
c2n
Substituting Eqs. (22) and (20) into Eq. (13) and then simplify-
ing the obtained results will give the absolute value of the critical
buckling load of the circular nanoplate for the nth mode number

Table 1
Solution of buckling characteristic equation for different l* and mode numbers.

c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8

ln ¼0 3.832 7.015 10.173 13.324 16.470 19.616 22.760 25.904

ln ¼4 6.038 7.735 10.346 13.398 16.503 19.634 22.771 25.911
ln ¼8 9.820 11.692 13.361 16.428 19.054 22.519 25.263 27.064
ln ¼12 13.629 15.070 17.386 19.722 22.547 25.114 26.834 29.302
ln ¼16 17.605 19.483 21.442 23.234 25.803 28.375 30.126 32.453
ln ¼20 21.665 23.304 25.398 27.144 29.222 31.824 33.848 35.677
Fig. 2. Normalized buckling load versus thickness h for various diameters.
 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117
is required to make the nanoplate buckle as it buckles due to
surface properties alone, a situation that cannot be predicted by
the classical plate models. It must be noted that this self-
instability behavior can occur only for materials with negative
surface residual stresses.
Therefore, the region with NBL o0 in Fig. 2 shows the self-
instability region in which the nanoplate loses stability without
imposition of any external loading. This notion would be useful in
engineering designs since according to Fig. 2 there is a minimum
thickness to be observed for any stable circular nanoplate of
radius R.
4.1. A simple contradiction
From other numerical results obtained for Al in this work it
can be seen that for a large scale plate of 1 m radius and thickness
of 0.5 mm the normalized buckling load ratio would be
NBL ¼1.154. Questions can be raised here in dealing with mesear-
ment of surface elasticity and surface residual stress at large
scales without coping with difficulties at nanoscale. This observa-
tion suggests that surface properties have their own effects also at
larger scales under some special conditions. Accordingly, compar-
ing the results of mechanical tests and corresponding classical
theory analysis results at large scales it would also be possible to
measure the surface properties. In the opinion of these authors
this is not an impossible idea but whether or not such behavior
definitely exists can be left for future work in this area.
Another numerical example is given to show the effect of
surface properties versus different mode numbers of circular
nanoplates. According to the results obtained and shown in
Fig. 3 in general as the mode number gets higher the effect of
surface properties tend to decrease. It is noted here that the drop
in NBL from the principal mode to the second mode far exceeds
the drop from the second mode to any of the higher modes even
n ¼infinity.
Similar to the previous discussion a self-instability region is
also observed in Fig. 3, which means that at smaller values of h
the residual surface stresses are able to cause the nanoplate to
buckle at higher mode numbers. In addition it is observed that at
Fig. 3. Plot for the effect of surface properties at higher mode numbers for various
thicknesses.
1115
Fig. 4. Effect of elastic bed in reduction of the surface effects on critical
buckling loads.
higher mode numbers NBL becomes nearly independent of the
thickness for both material types.
The next numerical example explores the effect of the elastic
embedding media in affecting the deviation of the results from
classical theories without consideration of surface properties. To
have an idea of the elastic bed effects it helps to know that the
Winkler elastic constant for an epoxy resin polymer is approxi-
mately of the order of 1e18. Results shown in Fig. 4 point out that
for such polymers their constant effects on surface properties can
almost be neglected and consequently the nanoplates with geo-
metric parameter in that range are stable within such matrix
materials.
On the other hand it is also observed that in general in stiffer
elastic media the effect of additional surface properties reduces
considerably. Furthermore, it is to be noted that some nanoplates,
which are not elastically stable due to residual surface stresses,
can be placed in such elastic media as nanocomposite structures
and can be used as stable elements in NEMS.
5. Self-instability analysis
This section studies the self-instability limitations for Si [1 0 0]
as introduced earlier. According to Eq. (23) it is found that the
self-instability can occur when the buckling load is equal to zero.
The corresponding relation is given as follows:
kR2 Deff 2
2ts þ þ c ¼0 ð25Þ
c2
n
R2 n
Consider an embedded circular nanoplate in elastic medium
and solve the problem for the principal buckling mode in which
c1 can be approximately assumed as linear function of l such
  
asc1 ¼ 0:892l þ3:832. By the definition of l a clear relation can

be found for c1 as follows:
 0:25
k
c1 ¼ 0:892R eff þ 3:832 ð26Þ
D
Substituting from Eqs. (7-2) and (26) into Eq. (25) and
simplifying the relation a relation for self-instability condition
1116 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117

gives the effective stiffness of the plate and using Eqs. (23)
and (28), the buckling load can be expressed as
 ncr  kR2 D 2
N ¼ þ 2 cn ð29Þ
r
c2
n
R

It must be noted that cn is a normalized parameter indepen-
dent of the effect of surface properties. Alternatively according to
the present work, the buckling load can also be obtained from
Eq. (23). It is obvious that Eq. (29) is a rough approximation for a
circular nanoplate with the uncertainties included or other para-
meters such as surface properties inherently in Dn. We try to
propose that the present work’s recommendations do consider
surface properties sufficiently for size dependent buckling analy-
sis of circular nanoplates to match the results of future experi-
mental works. Therefore, if the effective stiffness from simpler
experimental works such as tension of nanowires is used in
Eq. (29) then it is expected that the buckling load predicted by
this equation can be equal to that of Eq. (23). Conversely, if and
only if Eq. (23) is equivalent to Eq. (29) then the calculated
effective stiffness Eeff from their equality must match the experi-
Fig. 5. Plot of the self-instability boundaries for different values of elastic bed mental results. The relation below establishes the above equality:
constants.
kR2 Deff 2 kR2 D 2
2ts þ þ c C 2 þ 2 cn ð30Þ
c2
n
R2 n cn R
in terms of geometric and elastic medium parameters is obtained: Simplifying the above relation for an isolated circular nano-
  
k h2 Eh plate (k¼0) and using Eq. (28) yields the following relation:
2ts þ 2 þ 2
Es þ P2 ¼ 0
P 2ð1u Þ 6 Eeff h3 2ts R2
 0:25 D ¼ C þ Deff ð31Þ
12ð1u2 Þk 3:832 12ð1n Þ 2
c2
P ¼ 0:892 2 s þ ð27Þ n
h ð6E þ EhÞ R
Ultimately the calculated effective stiffness from the above
relations is given as
Fig. 5 shows the self-instability behavior of silicon [1 0 0] !
circular nanoplates. The plots are made in terms of radius R 6Es 24ð1n2 Þts R2
Eeff CE 1 þ þ ð32Þ
versus thickness h representing the stability boundaries for Eh Eh3 c
2
n
different Winkler foundation constants as shown.
The only limitation in this approach relates to the results of
From the results it is observed that for higher values of k the
simpler experimental works, which studied the effective stiffness
unstable region gets reduced in Fig. 5, and there is a termination
of nanomaterials as related to nanowire diameters. In this regard
point for their curves. This means that for a nanoplate thicker
the authors suggest that a geometric parameter of circular
than the corresponding termination point the nanoplate is always
nanoplate must be taken equivalent to the nanowire’s diameter.
stable regardless of the plate’s diameter. The thick line in Fig. 5 is
Herein the thickness of the nanoplate h is chosen as this para-
given for these termination points. It is also observed that as the
meter so that h¼2pr, where r is the nanowire’s radius. So the
elastic bed constant k gets higher the corresponding thickness of
effective stiffness obtained from Eq. (32) versus h must show the
the termination point reduces.
same behavior as the related experimental works but not exactly

6. Verification of the results

To the best of these authors’ knowledge there is hardly any

work in the literature dealing specifically with size dependent
buckling of circular nanoplates. Therefore, in this section we try to
verify the results obtained using inverse buckling formulation to
get the effective stiffness of the given material from the computed
size dependent buckling load. It must be noted that the effective
stiffness or effective Young’s modulus has been previously
obtained by experimental methods or atomistic approach for
several materials in the literature especially for nanowires.
Defining the effective stiffness based on classical plate models
regardless of the effect of surface stresses then the general
flexural rigidity of the plate can be written as
Eeff h3
D ¼ ð28Þ
12ð1u2 Þ
Next, consider a circular nanoplate of radius R and thickness h
with given material properties for the surface and bulk parts.
Assume that the structure is subject to radial load Nrncr , which Fig. 6. Verification of the calculated effective stiffness for different geometries of
can cause buckling of the plate. From classical mechanics, which nanoplates.
 A. Assadi, B. Farshi / Physica E 43 (2011) 1111–1117
Fig. 7. Evaluation of the relative effects of surface elasticity and surface residual
stress on NNF for different geometries of plates.
equal to them, which would obviously be due to the difference in
the nature of two problems. Finally, it must be mentioned that
this procedure also forms the basis of classical mechanics where
Young’s modulus obtained from simple tensile tests is constantly
being used for all other problems such as vibration or buckling of
plates. Fig. 6 shows the corresponding curves for verification of
the above for a circular plate.
In Fig. 6 it is observed that the presented results are approxi-
mately close to those of Ref. [34]. However, it is also shown that
for nanoplates with thickness lower than 3 nm and with larger R
the curves of Fig. 6 tend to depart from the results of Ref. [34]. In
this study the question about this departure is left open, as to
whether such verification or even the above developed theory is
enough to make the results close to the future experimental ones.
7. Evaluation of relative effects of surface elasticity versus
surface residual stresses
In this section NBL is studied for a range of thickness h for two
radii considering surface elasticity effects and residual stresses
separately and combined. From Fig. 7 it is observed that the
curves for different cases studied tend to converge above h¼ 10.
Below this value the following differences are observed. The
radius seems to be ineffective when only surface elasticity is
considered.
As thickness becomes lower the relative effect of surface
residual stresses over surface elasticity becomes more dominant,
which can similarly be observed by increasing the radius.
8. Summary and conclusions
In this study, size dependent stability and self-instability of
circular nanoplates are investigated with consideration of surface
properties. An analytical method is presented to obtain the governing
1117
buckling equation based on modified classical plate theory together
with closed form solutions for several cases. A novel inverse formula-
tion is also proposed to verify the effective elastic modulus versus
existing experimental studies of nanowires. It is demonstrated that
for materials with negative residual surface stresses self-instability
conditions may arise in which the structure buckles in the absence of
external loadings. On the other hand it is shown that in an elastic bed
with constant k the termination point for plates thicker than the
corresponding thickness would remain stable regardless of the
nanoplate’s diameter. The presented verification of the results shows
that for higher radii or lower thicknesses, the proposed effective
stiffness departs from experimental values. Furthermore, it is shown
that as the elastic bed gets stiffer the effect of surface properties
reduces regardless of the material type. The obtained numerical
results show that the surface effects are more dominant for principal
buckling mode than for higher mode numbers. It is also noted that
the surface effects drop down considerably for second mode number
and thereafter NBL curves change slightly with respect to mode
numbers. It is also concluded that in general the effect of other
geometric, surface or elastic bed parameters can be neglected for
thicker nanoplates without significant error in the results. From the
numerical results it is observed that the surface properties can be
calculated by experiments at macroscale but this concept is not
justified satisfactorily here and the question is left open for future
studies. It is also concluded that the relative effect of surface residual
stresses over surface elasticity becomes more dominant for thinner or
larger nanoplates.
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