AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TORSIONAL BUCKLING OF CARBON NANOTUBES USING MOLECULAR AND STRUCTURAL MECHANICS

In this work, the critical twist angles of two types of CNTs, zigzag and armchair of different lengths are determined using molecular and structural mechanics. The results show that the torsional buckling modes predicted by the two methods are the same. It is also shown that critical twist angle decreases as CNTs length increases. Structural mechanics underpredicts the critical angle for both armchair and zigzag nonotubes. It is also shown that the critical angle for armchair nanotubes is higher than that for zigzag nanotubes.