A critical assessment of the elastic properties and effective wall thickness of single-walled carbon nanotubes

This paper discusses the fundamental issues of the elastic properties and effective wall thickness of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). It provides an in-depth analysis based on the rationale of the nanoscale-to-macroscale deformation relationship of SWCNTs and carries out a critical assessment of the diverse theoretical predictions in the literature. It was found that the in-plane stiffness of SWCNTs is a mechanics quantity that has been consistently reflected by the majority of the existing models. However, a further systematic study is necessary to clarify the dilemma of the wall thickness of SWCNTs.