Producing continuous macroscopic carbon nanotube fibers with mechanical features close to indi- vidual CNTs remains a major challenge. In this paper, the mesoscale mechanics of twisted CNT bundles using structural mechanics method by considering inter-tube interactions is investigated. For this purpose, the carbon nanotube structure and the respective coordinates of its atoms were extracted from Nanotube Modeler software. Based on these data, the carbon nanotube bundle models were created using ABAQUS scripting environment. To investigate the shear forces in the mesoscale model, the middle CNT of a bundle containing seven SWCNTs was pulled-out. Consequently, deformation mechanisms and an optimal twisting angle were determined. The simulation results from ABAQUS/CAE finite element solver code were verified by a full atomic molecular dynamics models published previously.

Keywords