Regular Article

Effect of metallic nanowire encapsulation on the tensile behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes: a molecular dynamics study

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Maragheh, P.O. Box 55136-553, Maragheh, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Guilan, P.O. Box 3756, Rasht, Iran
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Campus 2, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

^a e-mail: sajori@maragheh.ac.ir
^b e-mail: r_ansari@guilan.ac.ir

Received: 28 March 2020
Received in final form: 22 February 2020
Published online: 21 May 2020

Abstract

The encapsulation of nanowires (NWs) into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is of great significance due to the specific mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties of confined NWs as well as application of filled CNTs in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). The tensile behavior of NWs encapsulated-SWCNTs (NWs@SWCNTs) is investigated herein using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results illustrated that Young’s moduli of NWs@SWCNTs decrease as the length of nanotube increases. Moreover, pure SWCNTs show higher Young’s moduli as compared to NWs@SWCNTs. It is also found that NWs@SWCNTs possess higher ultimate forces than those of pure SWCNTs. In addition, at a given length, the ultimate forces of pure SWCNTs and NWs@SWCNTs increase by increasing the radii of nanotubes.