Cohesive law for carbon nanotube/polymer interfaces

For CNTs not well bonded to polymers, Jiang et al. [137] established a cohesive law for carbon nanotube/polymer interfaces. The cohesive law and its properties (e.g., cohesive strength, cohesive energy) are obtained directly from the Lennard-Jones potential from the van der Waals interactions. Such a cohesive law is incorporated in the micromechanics model to study the mechanical behavior of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite materials. CNTs indeed improve the mechanical behavior of composite at the small strain. However, such improvement disappears at relatively large strain beeause the eompletely debonded nanotubes behave like voids in the matrix and may even weaken the composite. The increase of interface adhesion between CNTs and polymer matrix may significantly improve the composite behavior at the large strain [138]. 

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