Multiscale simulations of critical interfacial failure in carbon nanotube-polymer composites

Computational investigation of interfacial failure in composite materials is challenging because it is inherently multi-scale: the bond-breaking processes that occur at the covalently bonded interface and initiate failure involve quantum mechanical phenomena, yet the mechanisms by which external stresses are transferred through the matrix occur on length and time scales far in excess of anything that can be simulated quantum mechanically. In...