A cohesive law for multi-wall carbon nanotubes

W. B. Lu, J. Wu, L. Y. Jiang, Y. Huang*, K. C. Hwang, B. Liu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have established the cohesive law for carbon nanotube (CNT) walls in multi-wall CNTs. The interactions between CNT walls are characterized by the van der Waals force. The tensile cohesive strength and cohesive energy are given in terms of the area density of CNT and parameters in the van der Waals force. For an infinitely long CNT, the shear cohesive stress between CNT walls vanishes, and the tensile cohesive stress depends only on the opening displacement. For a finite CNT, the tensile cohesive stress remains the same, but the shear cohesive stress depends on both opening and sliding displacements, i.e. the tension/shear coupling. The simple, analytical expressions of the cohesive law are useful to study the interaction between walls in multi-wall CNTs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2221-2232
Number of pages12
JournalPhilosophical Magazine
Volume87
Issue number14-15
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

Funding

LYJ was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and by Canadian Space Agency. This research was also supported by ONR Composites for Marine Structures Program (grant N00014-01-1-0205, Program Manager Dr. Y. D. S. Rajapakse), NSF and NSFC.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics

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