Compression Behaviour of Thick Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Blocks

Blocks of vertically aligned multiwall carbon nanotubes were prepared by thermal chemical vapor deposition starting from camphor and ferrocene precursors. The blocks, having a thickness of approximately 2 mm and composed of nanotubes with diameter ranging between 30 and 80 nm, were submitted to compression tests. The results were analyzed accordingly with a simple model consisting in a parallel array of nanotubes under compression and bending suffering microscopic instability and compaction. The model mostly fits the experimental stress-strain curves, with a small deviation attributed to dissipative phenomena, such as frictional forces and nanotube wall breakage.