Ab Initio Calculations of the Walls Shear Strength of Carbon Nanotubes

The dependence of the energy of interwall interaction in double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT) on the relative position of walls has been calculated using the density functional method. This dependence is used to evaluate forces that are necessary for the relative telescopic motion of walls and to calculate the shear strength of DWNT for the relative sliding of walls along the nanotube axis and for their relative rotation about this axis. The possibility of experimental verification of the obtained results is discussed.