Mechanical properties of cables made with helically wound carbon-nanotube fibers for advanced structural applications

Mechanical properties of cables made with helically wound carbon-nanotube fibers for advanced structural applications

Giovanni Migliaccio, Reginald DesRoches, Gianni Royer-Carfagni

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Abstract. Big structures, such as super long suspension bridges, require materials that overcome the specific strength of steel, since there is a material-dependent limit size beyond which they shall collapse under their own weight. Carbon NanoTube Fibers (CNTFs) hold great promise for advanced applications, for their exceptional strength and stiffness per unit specific weight. We propose a theoretical model to describe the mechanical response of cables made of CNTFs. The mechanical response is studied via a variational approach and closed-form expressions are obtained for the stiffness parameters of the cable and the stress in the constituent CNTFs. This study shows that the stiffness and strength of the cable present opposite variations with respect to parameters associated with the geometric arrangement of the CNTFs, suggesting the existence of an optimal compromise yet to be experimentally verified.

Keywords
Carbon-Nanotube Fibers, Effective Strength, Helically Wound Cable

Published online 3/17/2022, 6 pages
Copyright © 2023 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Giovanni Migliaccio, Reginald DesRoches, Gianni Royer-Carfagni, Mechanical properties of cables made with helically wound carbon-nanotube fibers for advanced structural applications, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 26, pp 11-16, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644902431-2

The article was published as article 2 of the book Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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