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Nano- and intra-molecular mechanics of carbon nanotubes

Boris I. Yakobson*

Physics Department
NCState University

This is an abstract for a talk to be given at the Fifth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.

Response of carbon nanotubes (CNT) to different mechanical stimuli is important for the future applications [1]. Elastic mechanics of single-walled nanotubes will be briefly reviewed [2], with the emphasis on synergism of MD simulations and macroscopic methods. Then more detailed discussion and calculations of elastic moduli will follow (tension, torsion, bending and lateral compression) for CNT of arbitrary diameter and the number of layers, as well as their rope-arrangements. Further, mean-field calculation of the strength and fracture of (10,10) and other ropes will be presented. Finally, more recent findings of intra-molecular mechanisms, determining the strength of the tube per se, will be discussed. The phenomenon of "quantized plasticity" [3] will be discussed in detail for CNT [4].

References:
[1] B. I. Yakobson, R. E. Smalley, American Scientist v. 85, 324-337 (1997)
[2] B. I. Yakobson, C. J. Brabec, J. Bernholc, Phys. Rev. Lett. v. 76, 2511- 2514 (1996).
[3] B. Bhushan, J. N. Israelachvili, U. Landman, Nature v. 374, 607-616.
[4] B. I. Yakobson, to be published.

*Corresponding Address:
Boris I. Yakobson, Physics Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, Phone: (919)-515-2426, FAX: (919)-515-7331, E-Mail: yakobson@ncsu.edu
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