Nonlinear dynamic behavior of a clamped–clamped beam from BNC nanotube impacted by fullerene

Abstract

The nonlinear dynamic behavior of a clamped–clamped nanobeam built with boron nitride carbon (BNC) nanotube is investigated as for its potential application in a mass sensor. To make it anisotropic in terms of bending stiffness, the cross section of the tube contains symmetrically two B–N zones and two carbon zones which accommodate 60% of atoms in the whole nanotube. The dynamic behavior of the nanosensor, colliding with a high-speed $\hbox {C}_{60}$ at the central part of the beam, is evaluated using molecular dynamics simulations and fast Fourier transform approaches. Results obtained show that the amplitude of vibration of the tube depends on the magnitude $(v_{\mathrm{In}})$ and direction ($\theta$) of the incident velocity of the $\hbox {C}_{60}$. When $v_{\mathrm{In}}$ is higher than a critical value, the beam will be damaged in the collision. The position of the damage on the nanobeam and the critical value depend on $\theta$. If $v_{\mathrm{In}}$ is lower than the critical value, the first-order frequency of the vibration at the beam centroid is lower when impacted by a faster $\hbox {C}_{60}$. The second-order frequency depends on the configuration of the beam’s central cross section. The intervals of the first-order frequency with respect to $\theta = 0^{\circ }$ and $90^{\circ }$ are not overlapped. These findings hint that a BNC nanobeam can be used to measure the mass of a molecular under a known incident velocity or an incident velocity of a known molecular via this model.