title: The structural and dynamical aspects of boron nitride nanotubes under high velocity impacts.
abstract: This communication report is a study on the structural and dynamical aspects of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) shot at high velocities (∼5 km s(-1)) against solid targets. The experimental results show unzipping of BNNTs and the formation of hBN nanoribbons. Fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations were also carried out to gain insights into the BNNT fracture patterns and deformation mechanisms. Our results show that longitudinal and axial tube fractures occur, but the formation of BN nanoribbons from fractured tubes was only observed for some impact angles. Although some structural and dynamical features of the impacts are similar to the ones reported for CNTs, because BNNTs are more brittle than CNTs this results in a larger number of fractured tubes but with fewer formed nanoribbons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu and Departamento de Física Teórica e Experimental, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal-RN, 59072-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Sehmus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozden
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu.
authors.forename: ChandraSekhar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tiwary
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André-SP, 09210-580, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pedro A S
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Autreto
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vajtai
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Enrique V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Barrera
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Department, State University of Campinas, Campinas-SP, 13083-959, Brazil. galvao@ifi.unicamp.br.
authors.forename: Douglas S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Galvao
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. cst.iisc@gmail.com ajayan@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Pulickel M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Ajayan