Mechanical Response of Aluminosilicate Nanotubes under Compression

RI Gonzalez and J Rogan and EM Bringa and JA Valdivia, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, 120, 14428-14434 (2016).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b04564

The mechanical response of aluminosilicate nano tubes (imogolite) under compression is investigated by means of classical molecular dynamics simulations using the CLAYFF potential. Using the uncompressed length L-0, when there is no strain, to describe each nanotube, we have found that imogolite tends to coil for L-0 > 15 nm to prevent the failure of the nanotube. The simulation also shows that the nanotubes do not break under stress for L-0 >= 100 nm. Hence, the imogolite is a very flexible nanotube, which has been observed with lengths up to 500 nm. Finally, we can report a Young modulus of the order of 200 GPa, which is relatively independent of L-0.

Return to Publications page