Collapse of double-walled carbon nanotube bundles under hydrostatic pressure

Abstract

We use classical molecular dynamics simulations to study the collapse of single (SWNT) and double-walled (DWNT) carbon nanotube bundles under hydrostatic pressure. The collapse pressure $({p}_{c})$ varies as $1∕{R}^{3}$, where $R$ is the SWNT radius or the DWNT effective radius. The bundles show $\ensuremath{\sim}30%$ hysteresis and the hexagonally close packed lattice is completely restored on decompression. The ${p}_{c}$ of DWNT is found to be close to the sum of its values for the inner and the outer tubes considered separately as SWNT, demonstrating that the inner tube supports the outer tube and that the effective bending stiffness of DWNT, ${D}_{\mathit{DWNT}}\ensuremath{\sim}2{D}_{\mathit{SWNT}}$. We use an elastica formulation to derive the scaling and the collapse behavior of DWNT and multiwalled carbon nanotubes.