Plastic Deformations in Mechanically Strained Single-Walled Carbon   Nanotubes
  AFM manipulation was used to controllably stretch individual metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). We have found that SWNTs can sustain elongations as great as 30% without breaking. Scanned gate microscopy and transport measurements were used to probe the effects of the mechanical strain on the SWNT electronic properties, which revealed a strain-induced increase in intra-tube electronic scattering above a threshold strain of ~5-10%. These findings are consistent with theoretical calculations predicting the onset of plastic deformation and defect formation in carbon nanotubes. 
D. Bozovic, M. Bockrath, J. H. Hafner, C. M. Lieber, H. Park, M.   Tinkham