| Date | 29th, Dec 2021 |
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Rice University researchers found that cyclic loading of nanotube fibers leads to strain ratcheting that can eventually lead to the failure of the fiber. Credit: Illustration by Nitant Gupta and Evgeni Penev/Yakobson Research Group
Up here in the macro world, we all feel fatigue now and then. It’s the same for bundles of carbon nanotubes, no matter how perfect their individual components are.
A Rice University study calculates how strains and stresses affect both “perfect” nanotubes and those assembled into fibers and found that while fibers under cyclic loads can fail over time, the tubes themselves may remain perfect. How long the tubes or their fibers sustain their mechanical environment can determine their practicality for applications.
