Hypothetical silicon nanotubes under axial compression

This study shows the response of silicon nanotubes (SiNTs) under axial compression using an atomistic simulation based on the Tersoff potential. The application of pressure, proportional to the deformation within Hook's law, eventually led to a collapse of the SiNT and an abrupt change in structure. Using the sum of the cross sections of the atoms on the SiNT cross section and the SiNT pressure, we determined Young's modulus for the SiNTs that was constant irrespective of the SiNTs' diameter. As the SiNTs' diameter increased, the collapse pressure, that is the critical stress, linearly decreased. However, the net forces on the SiNTs at their collapse were almost constant irrespective of the SiNTs' diameter. We calculated the variations in the unit cell volume as a function of pressure, which were not dealt with in previous works considering carbon nanotubes under compression. Using properly chosen parameters for the SiNTs (Young's modulus, effective spring constant, diameter, lattice constant and cylindrical volume modulus), the critical strain, the collapse pressure, the elastic energy and the critical volume at which the SiNT buckling occurs can be estimated by equations given in this work.