Mechanical properties of pillared-graphene nanostructures using molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

The deformation behaviour and mechanical properties of three-dimensional (3D) pillared graphene are investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The Tersoff–Brenner many-body potential model is employed to evaluate the interactions between 3D pillared-graphene carbon atoms and nanotube carbons. The Lennard-Jones potential model is used to compute the interactions between a conical indenter and 3D pillared-graphene carbon atoms. The effects of the size and geometric structure of 3D pillared-graphene are evaluated in terms of the indentation force and contact stiffness. The simulation results for an armchair nanotube of 3D pillared graphene show that the contact stiffness increases with increasing chiral vector of the 3D-pillared graphene. However, the adhesive force sharply decreases with increasing chiral vector of the 3D-pillared graphene. A zigzag nanotube of 3D-pillared graphene exhibits better mechanical properties compared with those of the armchair nanotube.