Finite element modeling of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under axial tension
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Mokhtar Awang; Ehsan Mohammadpour
- Source
- 2012 International Conference on Enabling Science and Nanotechnology.
- Subject
- Materials science
Nanocomposite
Tension (physics)
Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes
Carbon nanotube
Finite element method
law.invention
Condensed Matter::Materials Science
symbols.namesake
law
symbols
van der Waals force
Composite material
Deformation (engineering)
Beam (structure)
- Language
An effective finite element (FE) approach for modeling the structure and the deformation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is presented. Individual tube was modeled using frame like structure with beam elements. The effect of van der Waals forces, crucial in MWCNT, was modeled by spring elements (fig. 1). The success of this new carbon nanotube (CNT) modeling approach was verified by comparing the simulation results for single and multi-walled nanotubes with other experimental and computational results available in the literature [1, 2]. Simulations of final deformed configurations were in excellent agreement with the atomistic models for various deformations. The proposed approach successfully predicts the experimentally observed values for mechanical behavior of MWCNTs (Table 1). The results demonstrated that the proposed FE technique could provide a valuable tool for studying the mechanical behavior of different type of nanotubes, as well as their effectiveness as load-bearing entities in nanocomposite materials.