The Study for the Enhancement of the Pressure Resistance of Defective Carbon Nanotubes Using Continuum-Discrete Multiscale Coupling Method

Abstract

The presence of defects, including Stone–Wales (SW) defects, can lead to a deterioration of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In this study, a continuum-discrete multiscale coupling (CDMC) method is used to investigate the improvement of the pressure resistance of defective CNTs containing SW defects. By employing the moving least squares (MLS) approximation as a bridging mechanism, a seamless integration can be achieved between the deformation fields of discrete atomic configurations and their corresponding continuum models. Based on the CDMC method, a meshless computational framework, devoid of numerical integration, is formulated to accurately predict the buckling behaviors of defective CNTs. The results show that the position of SW defects almost has no effect on the anti-buckling ability of defective CNTs; and the pressure resistance of defective CNTs can be improved by coating/inserting CNT when the deference of the radius between the two nested CNTs is greater than 0.2nm.