Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Influence Of Van Der Waals Forces On Increasing The Strength And Toughness In Dynamic Fracture Of Nanofibre Networks: A Peridynamic Approach, Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

Florin Bobaru Ph.D.

The peridynamic method is used here to analyse the effect of van der Waals forces on the mechanical behaviour and strength and toughness properties of three-dimensional nanofibre networks under imposed stretch deformation. The peridynamic formulation allows for a natural inclusion of long-range forces (such as van der Waals forces) by considering all interactions as ‘long-range’. We use van der Waals interactions only between different fibres and do not need to model individual atoms. Fracture is introduced at the microstructural (peridynamic bond) level for the microelastic type bonds, while van der Waals bonds can reform at any time. We conduct statistical …