Table 1 Young’s Modulus and the tensile strength for SWCNTs, crystalline syndiotactic PAN, Iβ cellulose, and γ-iron (representative of steels) according to experimental measurements and molecular dynamics simulations with IFF-R, PCFF and ReaxFF (refs. 74,75,76)

From: Implementing reactivity in molecular dynamics simulations with harmonic force fields

 

SWCNT

PAN

Cellulose Iβ (PCFF-R)

γ-Iron, [111] directionc

Modulus (GPa)

Strength (GPa)

Modulus (GPa)

Strength (GPa)

Modulus (GPa)

Strength (GPa)

Modulus (GPa)

Strength (GPa)

Experiment

1007 ± 118a

121.6 ± 22a

172 ± 10 (DFT)

N/A

150 ± 5.0111

4–1065

210 ± 1070

13.1 ± 1.566

IFF-R (or PCFF-R)

1001 ± 15

115 ± 1.5

168 ± 9.0

18.5 ± 2.0

120 ± 1.0

12.7 ± 1.5

237 ± 20

14.5 ± 1.1

IFF-R dev to expt (%)

-1 ± 12

-5 ± 19

-2 ± 6

NA

-20 ± 3

+81 ± 43

+13 ± 5

+11 ± 11

ReaxFFb

752 ± 8.0

173 ± 2.0

219 ± 6.0

29 ± 2.0

131 ± 4.0

14.1 ± 2.0

4627 ± 12.0

35 ± 5.0

ReaxFF dev to expt (%)

-25 ± 12

+42 ± 19

+27 ± 6

NA

-13 ± 3

+101 ± 43

+2100 ± 5

+169 ± 11

  1. a From tensile testing of a 2.1 nm CNT using a micro/nanoscale material testing system (ref. 67).
  2. b Using the ReaxFF parameter set from Liu et al. (ref. 76) for SWCNTs, PAN, cellulose and from Islam et al. (ref. 75) for iron. Values may change for a different ReaxFF parameter set.
  3. c Experimental data for γ-iron are similar to the mechanical properties of steel112,113. The [111] crystallographic direction was used, i.e., vertical to the (111) plane.
  4. The mechanical properties are reported in the alignment direction of CNTs and polymers, and the models are representative of different materials classes, including ceramics, polymers, biopolymers, and metals