Hope College Department of Physics and Engineering Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2004 Project Summary

Project Title: Numerical Modeling of Carbon-Nanotube Based Composites
Student Name: Nathan Sprik
Student's home institution: Hope College
Research Advisor(s): Dr. Janice Pawloski
Source of Support: NASA Grant

The goal is to determine mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes using structural techniques by creating and testing nanotube and graphite sheet models. This will be accomplished by using ANSYS, a finite element modeling software . This will allow for a better understanding of possible mechanical application of carbon nanotubes.

This summer's research consisted of three parts. The first part was streamlining the computation and analysis process by writing a set of programs in C++ that could create a text file containing node and element data. This could then be transferred into ANSYS. The previous process was highly time consuming and contained lot of room for error. By imputing characteristics of structure into the C++ program it is able to calculate the nodal locations and element data. This information can then be read into ANSYS creating the structure desired.

The minimum size of a graphite sheet that can be used in testing and still have minimal amount of error was found to be determinable. This was achieved by testing varying sized graphite sheets and looking at the strain and force convergence at various pairs of points in graphite. It was found that as size increased the traits asymptotically approached a set value.

Finally, the effects that different radial sizes and orientations have on the total force applied for varying displacements was investigated. When comparing force/radius to radius and orientation to radius, it can be concluded that the largest effect on force is orientation.