Nanomechanics of carbon nanotubes and composites

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepak Srivastava and ◽  
Chenyu Wei ◽  
Kyeongjae Cho

Computer simulation and modeling results for the nanomechanics of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanotube-polyethylene composite materials are described and compared with experimental observations. Young’s modulus of individual single-wall nanotubes is found to be in the range of 1 TPa within the elastic limit. At room temperature and experimentally realizable strain rates, the tubes typically yield at about 5–10% axial strain; bending and torsional stiffness and different mechanisms of plastic yielding of individual single-wall nanotubes are discussed in detail. For nanotube-polyethylene composites, we find that thermal expansion and diffusion coefficients increase significantly, over their bulk polyethylene values, above glass transition temperature, and Young’s modulus of the composite is found to increase through van der Waals interaction. This review article cites 54 references.

2014 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 1450006 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. ROY CHOWDHURY ◽  
C. M. WANG ◽  
S. J. A. KOH

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed using adaptive intermolecular reactive bond order potential to analyze single-walled and double-walled carbon nanotubes. These carbon nanotubes were analyzed for buckling under compression and under torsion. The MD simulations create a comprehensive database for the critical buckling loads/strains and critical buckling torques/twist angles for armchair SWCNTs and DWCNTs of varying diameters and lengths. Using MD results as a computational benchmark, an equivalent thick shell model of CNT is proposed, which is amenable for analysis using a commercially available software ABAQUS. Based on our MD results, an empirical equation that describes the size-dependent Young's modulus for a single-walled carbon nanotube is established. Buckling analysis of CNT under compression and under torsion are performed with the equivalent shell model using size-dependent Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio = 0.19 and shell thickness h = 0.066 nm. We show that the equivalent shell model gives good estimate of critical buckling load/strain and critical buckling torque with respect to the MD results. Variation of critical twist angle with length of CNT, predicted by the shell model is in good qualitative agreement with MD simulation. However, the equivalent shell model underestimates the critical twist angle by 30% because the continuum shell model overestimates torsional stiffness of CNT compared to an atomistic model of CNT. The equivalent shell model is less computational intensive to implement as compared with MD. Its accuracy for predicting the buckling states for long carbon nanotubes allows it to be used for moderately long CNTs under compression/torsion, in-lieu of MD simulations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 761 ◽  
pp. 83-86
Author(s):  
Hideaki Sano ◽  
Junichi Morisaki ◽  
Guo Bin Zheng ◽  
Yasuo Uchiyama

Effects of carbon nanotubes (CNT) addition on mechanical properties, electric conductivity and oxidation resistance of CNT/Al2O3-TiC composite were investigated. It was found that flexural strength, Young’s modulus and fracture toughness of the composites were improved by addition of more than 2 vol%-CNT. In the composites with more than 3 vol%-CNT, the oxidation resistance of the composite was degraded. In comparison with Al2O3-26vol%TiC sample as TiC particle-percolated sample, the Al2O3-12vol%TiC-3vol%CNT sample, which is not TiC particle-percolated sample, shows almost the same mechanical properties and electric conductivity, and also shows thinner oxidized region after oxidation at 1200°C due to less TiC in the composite.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 168781401878528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zirong Luo ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Jianzhong Shang ◽  
Hong Zhu ◽  
Delei Fang

A modified rule of mixtures is required to account for the experimentally observed nonlinear variation of tensile strength. A modified Halpin–Tsai model was presented to predict the Young’s modulus of multiscale reinforced composites with both micron-sized and nano-sized reinforcements. In the composites, both micron-sized fillers—carbon fibers—and nano-sized fillers—rubber nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes—are added into the epoxy resin matrix. Carbon fibers can help epoxy resins increase both the tensile strength and Young’s modulus, while rubber nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes can improve the toughness without sacrificing other properties. Mechanical experiments and scanning electron microscopy observations were used to study the effects of the micron-sized and nano-sized reinforcements and their combination on tensile and toughness properties of the composites. The results showed that the combined use of multiscale reinforcements had synergetic effects on both the strength and the toughness of the composites.


Author(s):  
Huiyang Luo ◽  
Yanli Zhang ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Hongbing Lu

A glass fiber reinforced polyurethane foam (R-PUF), used for thermal insulation of liquefied natural gas tanks, was characterized to determine its compressive strength, modulus, and relaxation behavior. Compressive tests were conducted at different strain rates, ranging from 10−3 s−1 to 10 s−1 using a servohydraulic material testing system, and from 40 s−1 to 103 s−1 using a long split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) designed for materials with low mechanical impedance such as R-PUF. Results indicate that in general both Young’s modulus and collapse strength increase with the strain rate at both room and cryogenic (−170°C) temperatures. The R-PUF shows a linearly viscoelastic behavior prior to collapse. Based on time-temperature superposition principle, relaxation curves at several temperatures were shifted horizontally to determine Young’s relaxation master curve. The results show that Young’s relaxation modulus decreases with time. The relaxation master curve obtained can be used to convert to Young’s modulus at strain rates up to 103 s−1 following linearly viscoelastic analysis after the specimen size effect has been considered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Numan Salah ◽  
Abdulrahman Muhammad Alfawzan ◽  
Abdu Saeed ◽  
Ahmed Alshahrie ◽  
Waleed Allafi

AbstractCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely investigated for preparing polymer nanocomposites, owing to their unique mechanical properties. However, dispersing CNTs uniformly in a polymer matrix and controlling their entanglement/agglomeration are still big technical challenges to be overcome. The costs of their raw materials and production are also still high. In this work, we propose the use of CNTs grown on oil fly ash to solve these issues. The CNTs of oil fly ash were evaluated as reinforcing materials for some common thermoplastics. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) was mainly reinforced with various weight fractions of CNTs. Xylene was used as a solvent to dissolve HDPE and to uniformly disperse the CNTs. Significantly enhanced mechanical properties of HDPE reinforced at a low weight fraction of these CNTs (1–2 wt.%), mainly the tensile strength, Young’s modulus, stiffness, and hardness, were observed. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus were enhanced by ~20 and 38%, respectively. Moreover, the nanoindentation results were found to be in support to these findings. Polycarbonate, polypropylene, and polystyrene were also preliminarily evaluated after reinforcement with 1 wt.% CNTs. The tensile strength and Young’s Modulus were increased after reinforcement with CNTs. These results demonstrate that the CNTs of the solid waste, oil fly ash, might serve as an appropriate reinforcing material for different thermoplastics polymers.


Nano Letters ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 2074-2077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branimir Lukić ◽  
Jin Won Seo ◽  
Revathi R. Bacsa ◽  
Sandrine Delpeux ◽  
François Béguin ◽  
...  

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