The structural and dynamical aspects of boron nitride nanotubes under high velocity impacts.

This communication report is a study on the structural and dynamical aspects of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) shot at high velocities (∼5 km s(-1)) against solid targets. The experimental results show unzipping of BNNTs and the formation of hBN nanoribbons. Fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations were also carried out to gain insights into the BNNT fracture patterns and deformation mechanisms. Our results show that longitudinal and axial tube fractures occur, but the formation of BN nanoribbons from fractured tubes was only observed for some impact angles. Although some structural and dynamical features of the impacts are similar to the ones reported for CNTs, because BNNTs are more brittle than CNTs this results in a larger number of fractured tubes but with fewer formed nanoribbons.