Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes

When the first suitable samples became available, measurements revealed stupendous values for Young s modulus and tensile strength indeed. A superelastic nanotube has been reported just recently. It stood an elongation by 280% without the tubular structure collapsing. 

The modulus of elasticity has been determined for multiwalled carbon nanotubes as well. The results range about 1.0-1.3 TPa, which is even slightly above those for single-waUed tubes. This strength originates from the strongest SWNT within the respective MWNT and from a small additional contribution of the van der Waals interaction between the individual tubes. However, this is valid only for measurements on single MWNTs that are clamped on both ends. 

The mechanical properties of nanotube composites are easier to determine because these can be studied in larger dimensions. Sufficient adherence of com- 

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Coleman, J. N., Khan, U., Blau, W. J., and Gunko, Y. K. 2006. Small but strong A review of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube-polymer composites. Carbon 44 1624-52. 

Biercuk MJ, Llaguno MC, Radosavljevic M, Hyun JK, Johnson AT (2002). Morphological and mechanical properties of carbon-nanotube-reinforced semicrystalline and amorphous polymer composites. Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 2767-2769. 

Velasco-Santos C, Marty nez-Hema ndez AL, Fisher FT, Ruotf R, Castano V M (2003b). Improvement of thermal and mechanical properties of carbon nanotube composites through chemical functionalization. Chem. Mater. 15 4470 4475. 

Dresselhaus MS, Dresselhaus G, Charlier JC, Hernandez E (2004) Electronic, thermal and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 362 2065-2098. 

Ghemes A, Minami Y, Muramatsu J, Okada M, Mimura H, Inoue Y. Fabrication and mechanical properties of carbon nanotube yarns spun from ultra-long multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays. Carbon. 2012 Oct 50(12) 4579-87. 

Miao M, Hawkins SC, Cai Y, Gengenbach TR, Knott R, Huynh CP. Effect of gamma-irradiation on the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube yarns. Carbon. 2011 Nov 49(14) 4940-7. 

Whitten PG, Spinks GM, Wallace GG (2(X)5) Mechanical properties of carbon nanotube paper in ionic liquid and aqueous electrolytes. Caibon 43 1891-1896... 

F. Ye, L. Liu, Y. Wang, Y. Zhou, B. Peng, and Q. Meng, Preparation and mechanical properties of carbon nanotube reinforced barium aluminosilicate glass-ceramic composites. Script. Mater., 55, 91 M (2006). 

We have simulated mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. The three factors mentioned above were considered in a proper way. We have studied the tension and compression of different carbon nanotubes [2-4]. In this contribution we report on the study of torsion effects. 

Tai, N.-H., Yeh, M.-K., and J.-H. Liu. 2004. Enhancement of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube/ phenolic composites using a carbon nanotube network as the reinforcement. Carbon 42 2774-2777. 

Nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes have been an area of considerable R D ever since the excellent electrical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes were demonstrated. However, attempts to prepare carbon nanotube RPs often result in phase separation of the CNT and polymer phases causing premature material failure. Researchers at Nomadic Inc. and Oklahoma State University developed a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly process that permits preparing polyelectrolyte/CNT RP with a CNT loading greater than 50 wt%. The excellent mechanical properties of these materials can be improved further by additional chemical action crosslinking of the CNT and polymer phases and by parallel alignment of the CNTs. The LBL method has been used to prepare various types of RPs. 

Della, C.N., Dongwei, S. Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes reinforced ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. Solid State Phenom. 136, 45-49 (2008)... 

AyatoUahi, M. R., Shadlou, S., and Shokrieh, M. M., Multiscale modeling for mechanical properties of carbon nanotube reinforced nanocomposites subjected to different types of loading. Composite Structures, 93, 2250-2259 (2011). 

Xiao, J. R., Gama, B. A. Gillespie, Jr J. W. (2005). An Analytical Molecular Structural Mechanics Model for the Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes. Int. J. Solids Struct, 42, 3075-3092. 

Qi HJ, Teo KBK, Lau KKS, Boyce MC, Milne WI, Robertson J, et al. Determination of mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes and vertically aligned carbon nanotube forests using nanoindentation. J Mech Phys Solids 2003 51 2213-37. 

Salvetat-Dehnotte, J.-P. Rubio, A. Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes a fiber digest for beginners. Carbon 40, 1729—1734 (2001). 

Garg, A. Sinnott, S. B. Effect of chemical functionalization on the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Chem. Phys. Lett. 295, 273-278 (1998). 

This paper focuses mainly on the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes and di.scusses their elastic properties and strain-induced transformations. Only. single-walled nanotubes are di.scussed, since they can be grown with many fewer defects and are thus much stronger. It is shown that under suitable conditions some nanotubes can deform plasiically, while others must break in a brittle fashion. A map of brittle vs. ductile behavior of carbon nanotubes with indices up to (100,100) is presented. The electrical properties of nanotubes are also affected by strain. We will focus here on quantum (ballistic) conductance, which is very sensitive to the atomic and electronic structure. It turns out that some nanotubes can tolerate fairly large deformations without much change to their ballistic conductance, while others are quite sensitive. Both properties can be used in applications, provided that nanotubes of the appropriate symmetry can be reliably prepared or selected. 

Coleman JN, Khan U, Blau WJ, Gun ko YK (2006) Small but Strong A Review of the Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotube-Pol)rmer Composites. Carbon 44 1624-1652. 

Chen, S., Wang, Q., Wang, T. Damping, thermal, and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes modified castor oil-based polyurethane/epoxy Interpenetrating polymer network composites. Mater. Des. 38, 47-52 (2012)... 

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