This is a copy of the slides presented at the meeting but not formally written up for the volume.

Micromechanics model incorporating with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is developed to simulate the frictional behavior of carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays in ceramic nanocomposites. MD model is used to compute the interaction force and simulate failure mechanisms of individual nanotube at atomic length scale. The force and deformation calculated from MD simulation are passed to the continuum model to simulate the interaction between nanotube arrays and AFM tips. The coefficient of friction is determined at different load levels. The simulation shows that the low friction in the thick-wall CNT systems occurs because the stiffer CNTs are more resistant to collapse under the applied loads. The predictions for the coefficient of friction are consistent with nanoscale tests.