Abstract
In this paper, a molecular structural mechanics model is proposed to study the effect of thermal environment on elastic properties of carbon nanotubes. The covalent bonds are traded as a truss in this new model. The influence of the temperature on Young’s modulus and shear modulus of both armchair and zigzag carbon nanotubes are investigated. According to the principle of elastic theory, a temperature-dependent continuum shell model of strain energy density is also established. The strain energy density of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) decreases with the increase of temperature. The Young's modulus of SWCNTs increases with the increase of tube diameter, but decreases with the increase of temperature. The temperature-dependent modulus of SWCNTs has a similar trend of change with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), but MWCNTs are more sensitive to the wall thickness.
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