Effective Elastic Modulus of Wavy Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

A simple method for determining the effective elastic modulus of wavy single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is presented in this paper. The effective modulus of curved SWCNTs is derived using Castigliano’s theorem. The effect of curvature on the effective modulus is studied. This method is verified by finite element analysis (FEA). The distributions of effective moduli are studied by Monte Carlo simulation. The effective modulus of a general wavy SWCNT is derived by considering the SWCNT as a number of curved SWCNT sections.