Theoretical study on mechanical properties of polyethylene–SWCNT complexes

Abstract

This paper studies the mechanical properties of polyethylene (PE)–Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) complexes by using density functional theory (DFT). At the PBE/SVP level, the Young’s modulus of the complexes is obtained as a function of PE content. It is established that, with increasing number of PE chains attached to the SWCNTs, the Young’s modulus monotonically decreases. The density of states (DOS) results show that no orbital hybridization exists between the PE chains and nanotubes. The results of this work are of importance for the design of composite materials employing SWCNTs.