Molecular dynamics study of mechanical properties of carbon nanotube reinforced aluminum composites
Atomistic simulations were conducted to estimate the effect of the carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforcement on the mechanical behavior of CNT reinforced aluminum (Al) nanocomposite. The periodic system of CNT Al nanocomposite was built and simulated using molecular dynamics (MD) software LAMMPS (Large scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator) The mechanical properties of the nanocomposite were investigated by the application of uniaxial load on one end of the representative volume element (RVE) and fixing the other end. The interactions between the atoms of Al were modeled using embedded atom method (EAM) potentials, whereas Adaptive Intermolecular Reactive Empirical Bond Order (AIREBO) potential was used for the interactions among carbon atoms and these pair potentials are coupled with the Lennard Jones (LJ) potential. The results show that the incorporation of CNT into the Al matrix can increase the Young's modulus of the nanocomposite substantially. In the present case, i.e. for approximately 9