Chirality- and size-dependent elastic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes

An analytical molecular mechanics model is established to relate the chirality- and size-dependent elastic properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube to its atomic structure. Properties at different length scales are directly connected by the derived closed-form expressions. The effects of tube chirality and tube diameter are investigated. The present analytical results are helpful to the understanding of elastic properties of carbon nanotubes, and thus are important for the application of carbon nanotubes as building blocks of nanomechanical devices. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.