Super honeycomb shows more potential for carbon nanotubes

Scientists Min Wang, Xinming Qiu, and Xiong Zhang from Tsinghua University in Beijing recently investigated the mechanical properties of super honeycomb structures, which are made of periodically repeating carbon nanotube Y junctions that form hexagonal patterns. While straight nanotubes—such as those compiled in bundles or ropes—have renowned strength and elasticity, the honeycomb structure can also transfer these forces to different parts of its structure. “The basic properties of super structures are due to their excellent structures: the hollow structure of arms and perfect honeycomb structure to combine the arms,” Zhang told PhysOrg.com. “Compared with the straight nanotube, the honeycomb structure optimizes the force-transferring.” Although the honeycomb structure may look like a fishnet, the forces that determine the nanostructure’s properties are actually quite different from those of a macroscopic honeycomb or fishnet because of the great scale difference. For example, the scientists indicate that the van der Waals interactions and the recombination of bonds at the atomic level would affect the results when the structure is stretched. “In our article, the shell model is used to analyze the mechanical properties of the super honeycomb structure,” Zhang said. “The method is based on the continuum theory, but the material parameter is obtained from the atomic level.” The scientists found that, when the nano honeycomb was stretched, the structure still maintained high tensile strength. This result arises due to the honeycomb structure’s unusual tendency to become very thin (which is called having a high “Poisson’s ratio”), and gain great flexibility. The scientists found that, the more junctions... Whole article: "http://www.physorg.com":[ http://www.physorg.com/news88434516.html]

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