The stability of a vertical single-walled carbon nanotube under its own weight

Abstract

It has been reported recently that single carbon nanotubes were attached to AFM tips to act as nanotweezers. In order to investigate its stability, a vertical single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) under its own weight is studied in this paper. The lower end of the carbon nanotube is clamped. Firstly the governing dimensionless numbers are derived by dimensional analysis. Then the theoretical analysis based on an elastic column model is carried out. Two ratios, i.e., the ratio of half wall thickness to radius (t/R) and the ratio of gravity to elastic resilience (ρgR/E), and their influences on the ratio of critical length to radius are discussed. It is found that the relationship between the critical ratio of altitude to radius and ratio of half thickness to radius is approximately linear. As the dimensionless number ρgR/E increases, the compressive force per unit length (weight) becomes larger, thus critical ratio of altitude to radius must become smaller to maintain stability. At last the critical length of SWCNT is calculated. The results of this paper will be helpful for the stability design of nanotweezers-like nanostructures.