Reactive Force Field Studies of Large-Deformation of Hybrid Carbon Nanotube-Metal Nanowires

We use the ReaxFF reactive force field to model extreme tensile deformation of a (10,10) armchair carbon nanotube. The ReaxFF force field has been developed based on DFT quantum mechanical calculations without any empirical parameters (Duin et al ., 2001). We report an analysis of the stress-strain relationship for the elastic and plastic regime, including a description of the microscopic fracture mechanisms. We find Young's modulus to be around 1 TPa, close to experimental values. Our modeling yields a fracture tensile strain of approximately 30%, with a maximum tensile stress of approximately 300 GPa. Fracture of the CNT originates from formation of 5-7 Stone-Wales-like defects, leading to formation of micro-cracks. We also report preliminary results of straining hybrid CNTs embedding a nickel nanowire.