Fracture Toughness of Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Metal- and Ceramic-Matrix Composites

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of three-level failure analysis models. (a) Fracture zone bridged with CNTs at the crack tip. (b) Macroscopic-level model with equivalent bridging nonlinear springs. (c) Mesoscopic-level model for studying CNT-fiber failure and obtaining the force-displacement relation of equivalent nonlinear spring. (d) Atomistic-level failure model for characterizing CNT/matrix interfacial bond breaking.