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Although the mechanical behavior of carbon nanotubes has been studied extensively in recent years, very few experimental results exist on the shell buckling of nanotubes, despite its fundamental importance in nanotube mechanics and applications. Here we report an experimental technique in which individual multiwalled carbon nanotubes were axially compressed using a nanoindenter and the critical shell-buckling load was measured. The results are compared with predictions of existing continuum theories, which model multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a collection of single-walled shells, interacting through van der Waals forces. The theoretical models significantly underpredict the experimental buckling load.

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