Temperature effects on mechanical properties of the (3, 3) carbon nanotube X-junctions

The effects of temperature on the mechanical properties of two types of (3, 3) carbon nanotube X-junctions (Junctions A and C) including the Young's modulus, the tensile strength and the yield strain have been investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that the Young's modulus and the tensile strength decrease with increase in temperature for both types of the junctions, and the two types of mechanical parameters of Junction A is higher than those of the Junction C given the same temperature. The linear and nonlinear temperature effects of the yield strain are also observed respectively for Junctions A and C. The present simulations show that the topological structure at the junction has obvious influence on the temperature-dependant mechanical properties.