Plenary Lecture

On the Bending of Carbon Nanotubes

Professor Ligia Munteanu
Institute of Solid Mechanics
Romanian Academy, Ctin Mille 15, Bucharest
Romania
E-mail: ligia_munteanu@hotmail.com

Abstract: In this paper, we analyse the bending of a zigzag single-walled nanotube of carbon (10,0). By coupling the continuum theory with molecular dynamic theory we model a deformation solitonic mechanism, to explain the high strength of nanotubes in bending. When the external bending moment increases, the axial compression in the tube increases too, and when the compressive stress reaches a critical value, the tube will locally buckle with the bending angle at 25.58°. Above of this value, a solitonic deformation mechanism is starting and a portion of the nanotube becomes to rotate about a central hinge line. For large distances, the van der Waals force is attractive, but when the separation between the atoms is below the equilibrium distance of 3.42A, it becomes strongly repulsive. Upon complete unloading from angles below 110° the nanotube completely recovers. At a very large bending angle of 120°, atomic bonds break and the deformation of the nanotube becomes irreversible.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Ligia Munteanu (born in 1967) received the PhD degree in Mathematics from University of Bucharest in 1999. She obtained a Master degree (DEA) in Continuum Mechanics–Composites in 1993 at the Poitiers University, France. Since 1989 she is a senior scientific researcher at the Institute of Solid Mechanics of Romanian Academy, Dept. of Continuum Mechanics. She is the winner of the prize Henri Coanda of Romanian Academy in 2002. Her main research topics include the theory of continuum mechanics, dynamics, soliton theory, nano and micro scale phenomena, and the mechanics of composites. Her work has been published in several journals and books among which we can mention the monography Introduction to Soliton Theory: Applications to Mechanics, published in the Book Series “Fundamental Theories of Physics”, vol.143, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004, the paper On the free vibrations of a piezoceramic hollow sphere, Mechanics Research Communications, Elsevier, 34, 2, 123-129, 2007, and the book (with. N.D.Stanescu, V.Chiroiu, N.Pandrea) Dynamical Systems. Theory and Applications, vol.1, Ed.Academiei, Bucharest 2007. She is a member of GAMM - Gesellschaft fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik.