Mechanism of bending with kinking of a single-walled carbon nanotube

This paper explores the mechanism of bending with kinking of a long single-walled carbon nanotube under pure bending with moderate bending angles. The prebuckling response was modeled using the existing continuum mechanics theory accounting for the ovalization of the cross section. The post-buckling behavior was characterized by the development of an elastic kink mechanism, considering the van der Waals force. It was found that the post-buckling strain energy increases almost linearly with the bending angle. The van der Waals force facilitates the kink development and its effect becomes more pronounced at large bending angles.