Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2011
A carbon nanotube pulling through a polyethylene matrix was simulated using molecular dynamics. The interfacial sliding was characterized in terms of a nanoscale friction model, which is parametrized from the molecular dynamics simulation, and involves determining the critical pull-out force on the nanotube and the effective viscosity at the nanotube/polymer interface. Comparison was made of the pull-out behavior of non-bonded and functionalized nanotube composites. Chemical bonds between the polymer and the nanotube increased the critical pullout force, the resistance to interfacial sliding, and the interfacial viscosity.