On the mechanics of deformation instabilities in carbon nanotubes

This paper reviews some of the main mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT), including nonlinear elastic instabilities and buckling, as well as defect generation, dynamics and plasticity. A multiscale modeling approach of CNT dynamics is proposed. It considers CNT as cylindrical shells and describes their dynamics through the corresponding elasticity equations. This description may also incorporate defects such as vacancies, adatoms, dislocations, Stone–Wales defects and the coupling between film elasticity and defect dynamics. Elastic constants, defect formation and interaction energies may be obtained from direct comparison with experimental results or numerical simulations at the atomic level. It is then shown how the apparition and properties of deformation instabilities may be discussed in this framework