Influence of Waviness and Vacancy Defects on Carbon Nanotubes Properties

Previous and present theoretical and experimental research of polymer and other composites have shown that carbon nanotubes, acting as an reinfocements, significantly affect the final mechanical properties of aforementioned composites, thanks to its exceptional mechanical properties. However, the properties of carbon nanotube can be affected by the shape of nanotube, as well as various vacancy deffects within the structure of carbon nanotube. Thus, the waviness and the vacancy deffects decreases the final properties of nanocomposite structures. In this paper, the properties of straight and waved carbon nanotube are compared, on examples with different waviness factor, using the finite element method. Also, different vacancy defects are considered on the same straight and waved nanotube models. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.