Energetics, Structure, Mechanical
and Vibrational Properties
of Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers
California Institute of Technology
This is an abstract
for a talk to be given at the
Fifth
Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
The full paper is available at
http://www.wag.caltech.edu/foresight/foresight_2.html
We will present extensive molecular mechanics and molecular
dynamics studies on the energetics, structure, mechanical and
vibrational properties of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers using
an accurate interaction potential which is optimized for
graphite. These simulation studies are carried out using a
Massively Parallel Simulation Program MPSim at the
Materials and Process Simulation Center, MSC.
We explored the packing of 10-10 single wall nanotubes and
obtained the optimal lattice as triangular lattice with lattice
constant 16.7 A for zig-zag form. Using the second derivatives we
determined bulk modulus Young modulus and Poisson ratio for
zig-zag and arm-chair forms along with pertinent vibrational
modes and frequencies.
We also carried out computational experiments on the fibers
under tensile compressive, bending and twisting loads to study
the mechanical stability of each case.
Furthermore, we have explored structures and energetics of the
nanotubes such as (10,10),(20,20), (30,30),(40,40), ...,
(100,100) and the resulting tori tori of varying circumference.
*Corresponding Address:
Dr. Tahir Cagin, Materials
and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, ph: 818-395-2728, fax:
818-585-0918, email: [email protected]
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