抄録
Plastic bending deformation of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is analyzed using minimum energy path calculation with a bond-order potential. The calculation demonstrates that plastic deformation is thermodynamically favorable above a threshold "yield curvature" ρ_<yield>, and is also kinetically feasible above 1500K, which agree with our experimental observations. A deformation mechanism map as function of temperature and bending curvature is constructed, and the dependence of ρ_<yield> on the nanotube diameter is analyzed.
