A Peridynamic Micro-Scale Model for Predicting Mechanical Properties of Graphene

Graphene, a honeycomb-like sheet of carbon just one atom thick, is used as a new reinforcement to make high-performance composites due to its unprecedented physical and chemical properties. Here we focus on the elastic properties of multi-layer graphene to simulate the mechanical properties of their composites. On the basis of the methods of state-based peridynamics and periodic boundary conditions, a unit cell model of graphene was established at the microscopic scale. Considering six pure load cases, the response of the periodic material under the action of macroscopically uniform deformation gradient is obtained. The effect of van der Waals forces and Brenner interatomic potentials with optimized parameters has been taken into account in the analysis of interaction between carbon atoms in graphene. The results obtained from the present numerical solution are in good agreement with the data in the existing literature, indicating that the model can well simulate the elastic properties of graphene, and give a significant reference for the further studies of the properties of graphene-based composites.