Critical Strain of Carbon Nanotube by Structural Mechanics Approach

The paper investigates buckling deformation of armchair and zigzag nanotubes with different length-radius ratio(H/R).The results show that the critical strain decreases as the radius increases with certain length-radius ratio nanotubes;length-radius ratio has important effect on the critical strain;for small length-radius ratio,the continuum shell theory is valid,but as length-radius ratio increases and at the radius of less than 0.8 nm,the divergence appears.So macroscopic mechanics frame model can effectively simulate buckling behaviour of carbon nanotubes and predict the critical strain.