Estimation of Thermal Conductivity of Amorphous Carbon Nanotube Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations

It is known that conductive heat transfer takes place from the hotter place to the colder region of a material following Fourier's law of heat conduction and as a consequence the colder region becomes progressively heated up until it reaches to the temperature of the hotter place. Based on the thermal evolution of the material the thermal conductivity can be estimated using the equation of Fourier's law of heat conduction. Present work reports estimation of thermal conductivity of an amorphous carbon nanotube on the basis of thermal evolution associated with conductive heat transfer through the nanotube using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, which is very promising tool to characterize thermo-physical properties of individual nanosized particles. The estimated value of thermal conductivity of amorphous carbon nanotube is 0.075 W m(-1) K-1 which is in agreement with the data reported in literature for conventional amorphous carbon and is several orders of magnitude smaller than that of crystalline carbon nanotube. The present theoretical study reveals that the thermal conductivity of amorphous carbon nanotube is similar to that of conventional amorphous carbonaceous materials and amorphous carbon nanotube is basically a heat insulating material.