Finite Element Modeling of the Tensile Behavior of Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene and Their Composites

Abstract

Due to their extraordinary mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes and graphene serve as ideal reinforcements. However, the effectiveness of reinforcement may be counterbalanced by the presence of defects, which degrades significantly the mechanical properties of nanomaterials, and the negative influence of several material-related and geometrical factors on the effective elastic properties of nano-reinforced composites. This chapter reviews the continuum models that were developed by the authors in order to predict the elastic properties of isolated defect-free carbon nanotubes, to simulate the tensile behavior of defected carbon nanotubes and graphene and to evaluate parametrically the effective elastic properties of nano-reinforced polymers. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.