Tensile responses of carbon nanotubes-reinforced copper nanocomposites: Molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The uniaxial tensile responses of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced copper nanocomposites was studied with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The interaction force between atoms is modeled using Tersoff potential, embedded-atoms method (EAM) and Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential. We obtained the stress–strain curves to describe the tensile behaviors of CNTs/copper systems. The effects of nanotubes number, diameter and layers number were investigated. The results show that the carbon nanotubes strongly improve the Young’s modulus and yield strength of CNTs/copper nanocomposites. The increasing nanotubes number, diameter and layers number significantly enhances the Young’s modulus of CNTs/copper. There are noticeable effects on the yield strengths of CNTs/copper nanocomposites with different tubes number, diameter and layers number.