Publications
Modeling of interface behavior in carbon nanotube composites
This research focuses on the development of a constitutive model for carbon nanotube polymer composites incorporating nanoscale attributes of the interface between the nanotube and polymer. Carbon nanotube polymer composites exhibit promising properties, as structural materials and the current work will motivate improvement in their load transfer capabilities. Since separation events occur at different length and time scales, the current work also addresses the challenge of multiscale modeling in interpreting inputs at different length and time scales. The nanoscale phase separation phenomena are investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulations based on MD provide grounds for developing a cohesive zone model for the interface based on laws of thermodynamics.