Elastic properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube under a thermal environment

In this paper, a temperature-dependent and thickness-independent molecular structure mechanics model is established to study the elastic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) under a thermal environment. A linear coefficient of thermal (LCTE), which changes continuously with the temperature, is also adopted. The Young’s modulus and the Poisson’s ratio of SWNTs for different temperatures are analyzed. It is found that the Young’s moduli of both armchair and zigzag SWNTs decrease with the increase of the temperature, but the Poisson’s ratio is not dependent on the temperature. Moreover, It is noted that for a given nanotube diameter, the Young’s moduli of armchair nanotubes are larger than those for zigzag nanotubes slightly. However, for a given temperature the Young’s moduli of both armchair and zigzag nanotubes increase with increasing nanotube diameters.