Properties of Novel Fullerene Tubule Structures: A Computational Study

Abstract

ABSTRACTTheoretical Young's moduli have been estimated for several fullerene carbon tubule fibers along the tubule axis. These results indicate that carbon fibers composed of nested tubules could have a modulus nearly 1.4 times that of a conventional graphite whisker. The results also indicate that the modulus of the tubule fiber can be further increased by decreasing the distance between the close-packed tubules in the fiber. This is true for both nested and single-shell tubules, but is only significant for the latter. Taking advantage of this property of single-shell tubules, we have examined a hypothetical tubule-diamond composite that, if it could be produced, would yield a modulus greater than diamond while at the same time stabilizing the fiber against shear distortions.