Potential Super-Toughness Behavior of Chiral (10,5) Carbon Nanotubes

Improvements in construction materials have been evolutionary and not revolutionary. We are attempting to change this paradigm by exploiting the extreme properties of carbon nanotubes, and by designing materials at the molecular level using molecular-based predictive rheology. As an initial step, we have modeled pristine and defective (5,5) carbon nanotubes and a defective (10,5) carbon nanotube using Tight-Binding Molecular Dynamics. The (5,5) carbon nanotubes exhibited extraordinary tensile strengths and brittle failures in agreement with the findings of other researchers. Their strengths and Young's moduli were degraded by the molecular flaws. By contrast, the defective (10,5) carbon nanotube exhibited lower, but still extraordinary, tensile strength and post-yield toughness behavior many times greater than toughened 4340 Steel. Such toughness behavior is an important and beneficial material characteristic for construction materials.
See also ADM002075. Presented at the Army Science Conference (25th) held in Orlando, Florida on 27-30 November 2006. The original document contains color images.