Multimodal Daniels’ theory: An application to carbon nanotube twisted strands

Abstract In this paper a new extension of the Daniels’ theory, which account for multiple modes of failure, is presented and applied to carbon nanotube (CNT) bundles. We developed a hierarchical statistical model for treating CNT twisted strands. The analysis allow us to rigorously characterize for the first time the weakest link, that is the CNT–CNT joint, in terms of Weibull size and shape parameter.