Mechanical properties of carbon nanotube bough junctions: A theoretical study

The mechanical characteristics of carbon nanotube bough junctions exposed to bending strain are described. A bough junction is an asymmetric Y junction where a branch nanotube is connected to a stem nanotube forming an acute angle between them. The Brenner and Lennard-Jones potentials are used to obtain strain energy of bough junctions under different branch loading. At the critical strain, a transition to the state with the branch parallel to the stem occurs. The influence of junction geometry and the number of nanotube walls in junction on the mechanical characteristics of bough junctions is also considered. The use of bough nanotube junctions as nanosprings in mechanical nanodevices is proposed.