Stress-strain hysteresis of a carbon nanotube network as polymer nanocomposite filler under cyclic deformation

Abstract

A network of entangled multiwall carbon nanotubes is an assembly of non-bonded and randomly oriented units whose mechanical behavior is affected by their buckling, compression and slippage at contact points. Slippage and irreversible nanotube rearrangements are evidenced by the hysteresis in the stress-strain curves during loading and unloading cycles. To model the mechanical behavior, a nonlinear rheological model is proposed as a combination of the elastic and the friction stresses and a kinetic equation.