Chirality Effects on Axial Thermomechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes

The nearly one dimensional carbon nanotubes with their novel physical and mechanical properties have received ever increasing attention in recent years for the use in a wide range of applications in which semiconductor nano-structures, nano-devices/sensors, and nano-electro-mechanical systems are to be integrated. However, carbon nanotubes exist in various chirality configurations each of which may perform differently when they are subjected to external mechanical and thermal loads, temperatures changes, and magnetic fields. Therefore, a detailed and fundamental investigation of the effects of chirality angles on thermomechanical performance of carbon nanotubes is needed to explain the behavior of such structures. Here in this work, finite element method (FEM) is employed to numerically investigate the responses of carbon nanotubes to external mechanical loads and temperatures changes. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with different chirality configurations, i.e., zigzag, armchair, and chiral are modeled and their effective thermomechanical properties are investigated. Finally, results are discussed and compared with the existing results from literature.