Adhesion between single-walled carbon nanotubes

Continuum analysis and molecular simulations are carried out to study the adhesion between two identical single-walled carbon nanotubes. A critical radius R-min= root D/W-flat is found below which the contact area is zero, where D is the effective bending stiffness of the nanotube, and W-flat is the work needed to separate two flat parallel graphite sheets of unit area in equilibrium. Using our theory, the change in the potential energy during the deformation is obtained and the theoretical result compares well with molecular simulations. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.