Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes The mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes reveal them as one of the strongest materials in nature. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are long hollow cylinders of graphene. Although graphene sheets have 2D symmetry, carbon nanotubes by geometry have different properties in axial and radial directions. It has been shown that CNTs are very strong in the axial direction. Young's modulus on the order of and tensile strength of were obtained. Carbon nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest materials yet discovered in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus respectively. This strength results from the covalent sp bonds
Carbon nanotube springs being subjected to and the architecture of the rest of the system. The material selected for the structure should have high strength because the added mass and volume of the support contribute to reducing the energy density of the entire system. Analysis is performed on CNTs subject to tensile loads. A hollow cylindrical structure of CNT of length L, diameter d and mean radius r is considered. The tube has thickness n.h, where n is the number of layers in the CNT and h=0.34 nm is the thickness of one shell. The Young's modulus of the material of the CNT