Modeling Considerations and Material Properties Evaluation in Analysis of Carbon Nano-Tubes Composite
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NANO-TECHNOLOGY can be broadly defined as, ‘‘the creation, processing, characterization, and utilization of materials, devices, and systems with dimensions on the order of 0.1 to 100 nm, exhibiting novel and significantly enhanced physical, chemical, and biological properties, functions, phenomena, and processes due to their nano-scale size.’’ Current interests in nano-technology encompass nano-biotechnology, nano-systems, nano-electronics, and nano-structured materials, of which nano-composites are a significant part. In the last decade or so, the field of computer simulation of nano-materials has advanced extremely rapidly for several reasons. The first is the tremendous increase in computing resources (along with simulation techniques) that has occurred in this time span, making the simulation of nano-scale arrays possible. The second is that atomic scale simulations (such as molecular dynamics) are ideally suited to explore nano-scale phenomena at a time when experimental exploration and theoretical understanding of nano-materials has become of intense interest. In fact, several regularly published journals are now devoted to articles illustrating simulations of new material properties spanning length scales from the subatomic to the macroscopic.[1] Carbon nano-tubes (CNTs), discovered by Iijima in 1991, possess exceptionally high stiffness, strength, and F. KARIMZADEH, Assistant Professor, Material Engineering Department, and S. ZIAEI-RAD, Associate Professor, and S. ADIBI, Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering Department, are with the Isfahan University of Technology, 84156, Isfahan, Iran. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Manuscript submitted March 30, 2006. Article published online July 7, 2007. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
resilience, as well as superior electrical and thermal properties.[2] Many believe that CNTs may provide the ultimate reinforcing materials for the development of a new class of nano-composites.[3,4] It has been demonstrated that with only 1 pct (by weight) of CNTs added in a polymeric matrix material, the stiffness of a resulting composite film can increase between 36 and 42 pct and the tensile strength by 25 pct.[5] The article’s studying scope, i.e., mechanical-load carrying capacities of CNTs in nano-composites, has also been demonstrated in some experimental work[5–8] and simulations.[9] All of these studies show that the CNT-based composites have the potential to provide extremely strong and ultralight new materials. However, enormous challenges remain in the development of such nano-composites. Computational method can play a significant role in the development of the CNT-based composites by providing simulation results to understand, analyze, and design nano-composites. At the nano-scale, analytical models are difficult to establish or too complicated to solve, and tests are extremely difficult and expensive to conduct. Modeling and simulations of nano-composites, on the other hand, can be achieved readily and cost effectively on even a desktop computer. Characteriz
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