Molecular Simulations of Cyclic Loading Behavior of Carbon Nanotubes Using the Atomistic Finite Element Method

The potential applications of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in many engineered bionanomaterials and electromechanical devices have imposed an urgent need on the understanding of the fatigue behavior and mechanism of CNT under cyclic loading conditions. To date, however, very little work has been done in this field. This paper presents the results of a theoretical study on the behavior of CNT subject to cyclic tensile and compressive loads using quasi-static molecular simulations. The Atomistic Finite Element Method (AFEM) has been applied in the study. It is shown that CNT exhibited extreme cyclic loading resistance with yielding strain and strength becoming constant within limited number of loading cycles. Viscoelastic behavior including nonlinear elasticity, hysteresis, preconditioning (stress softening), and large strain have been observed. Chiral symmetry was found to have appreciable effects on the cyclic loading behavior of CNT. Mechanisms of the observed behavior have been revealed by close examination of the intrinsic geometric and mechanical features of tube structure. It was shown that the accumulated residual defect-free morphological deformation was the primary mechanism responsible for the cyclic failure of CNT, while the bond rotating and stretching experienced during loading/unloading played a dominant role on the strength, strain and modulus behavior of CNT