Multiscale-failure criteria of carbon nanotube systems under biaxial tension-torsion

The failure criteria for carbon nanotube system fracture under biaxial tensile-torsional loads are developed based on a multiscale approach that adopts continuum mechanics models to describe atomistic predictions of failure from molecular dynamics simulations. The failure strength or envelope of carbon nanotube systems under this type of loading is significantly different from what occurs under uniaxial tensile loading and, importantly, is different from the predictions of failure criteria for macroscopic objects. The failure criteria developed here can be used to design carbon nanotube-based devices and materials, such as nanoelectromechanical systems and nanocomposites, which undergo biaxial tensile-torsional loading.