The elastic modulus of single-wall carbon nanotubes: a continuum analysis incorporating interatomic potentials

A nanoscale continuum theory is established to directly incorporate interatomic potentials into a continuum analysis without any parameter fitting. The theory links interatomic potentials and atomic structure of a material to a constitutive model on the continuum level. The theory is applied to study the linear elastic modulus of a single-wall carbon nanotube. The Young's modulus predicted by this nanoscale continuum theory agrees well with prior experimental results and atomistic studies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.