Investigation of Chirality Effect on Axial and Torsional Buckling Behavior of SWCNTs Using Finite Element Method

Abstract

In this paper, chirality effect on the buckling behavior of SWCNTs has been investigated. In order to explore the effect of chiral angle, all structures are used with the same length and diameter but different chiral angles. For modeling of chemical bonds between carbon atoms, potential energy of molecular mechanics theory and strain energies of a 3D beam element have been equalized. After calculating the element properties, the node coordinates have been determined using a computer code developed in MATLAB software. Then, ANSYS software is used to study the chirality effects on axial and torsional buckling load. Results show that the chiral angle has no significant influence on critical axial force. However, chiral angle is an effective parameter in torsional buckling. Chiral angle of 19.11 degree has the maximum critical torsional moment among all structures. In counter-clock-wise loading condition, chiral angle of 9.64 degree has the minimum critical torsional moment. Also, the direction of twisting (cw or ccw) is important and the difference between cw and ccw critical torsional moment reaches its maximum value for chiral angle of 15.48 degree.

Keywords

• carbon nanotubes
• chiral angle
• torsional buckling
• axial buckling
• finite element modeling