Thermal buckling and postbuckling behavior of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite plates

Thermal buckling and postbuckling behavior is presented for functionally graded nanocomposite plates reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) subjected to in-plane temperature variation. The material properties of SWCNTs are assumed to be temperature-dependent and are obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The material properties of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composites (FG-CNTRCs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction, and are estimated through a micromechanical model. Based on the multi-scale approach, numerical illustrations are carried out for perfect and imperfect, geometrically mid-plane symmetric FG-CNTRC plates and uniformly distributed CNTRC plates under different values of the nanotube volume fractions. The results show that the buckling temperature as well as thermal postbuckling strength of the plate can be increased as a result of a functionally graded reinforcement. It is found that in some cases the CNTRC plate with intermediate nanotube volume fraction does not have intermediate buckling temperature and initial thermal postbuckling strength. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.