Continuum modeling of boron nitride nanotubes

Boron nitride nanotubes display unique properties and have many potential applications. A finite-deformation shell theory is developed for boron nitride nanotubes directly from the interatomic potential to account for the effect of bending and curvature. Its constitutive relation accounts for the nonlinear, multi-body atomistic interactions, and therefore can model the important effect of tube chirality and radius. The theory is then used to determine whether a single-wall boron nitride nanotube can be modeled as a linear elastic isotropic shell. Instabilities of boron nitride nanotubes under different loadings (e.g., tension, compression, and torsion) are also studied. It is shown that the tension instability of boron nitride nanotubes is material instability, while the compression and torsion instabilities are structural instabilities.