%0 Journal Article %A Pan, Lijun %A Yang, Xiaobao %A Zhang, Ruiqin %A Hu, Xing %D 2010 %I Begell House %K boron nanotubes, mechanical properties, first-principles calculations %N 2 %P 245-250 %R 10.1615/IntJMultCompEng.v8.i2.90 %T The Stability and Mechanical Properties of Boron Nanotubes Explored through Density Functional Calculations %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/61fd1b191cf7e96f,5e3812bb177287f0,316c806f12cae855.html %V 8 %X Boron nanotubes are attractive because of their novel electronic properties due to the presence of multicenter bonds. Their thermal stability and mechanical properties are important issues in nanodevice applications and thus require intensive study. Using first-principles density functional calculations, we investigated the thermal stability and mechanical properties of armchair single-walled boron nanotubes with diameters ranging from 0.85 to 1.40 nm. We studied the geometry changes of boron nanotubes with temperature variations from 300 to 1200 K. By analyzing shape change, we found that boron nanotubes are stable only below 1000 K. We also extended our study to their mechanical response. Based on the calculated strain energy, we obtained Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio values in the ranges of 380.65-399.44 GPa and 0.184-0.195, respectively. Both the strain and strain energy increased as the temperature increased. %8 2010-05-28