The elastic behaviour of a screw dislocation lying in the wall of a hollow cylindrical nanotube was studied theoretically. The corresponding boundary-value problem of the classical theory of elasticity was formulated and solved (for stresses) for a linear elastically isotropic or transversely isotropic body. The elastic energy of the nanotube with the dislocation and the image force exerted on this dislocation by the inner and outer nanotube surfaces were calculated. The internal space of the nanotube was shown to cause the following qualitative differences in the dislocation stress-field distribution: a change in the sign of stress-tensor components near the inner nanotube surface, a high stress concentration at this surface, and a strong stress gradient at this surface. The dislocation had only one position of unstable equilibrium in the nanotube wall, which was always shifted toward the inner nanotube surface. As the internal-space radius increased, the dislocation energy decreased and the position of its equilibrium shifts toward the outer nanotube surface; in the limiting case of a flat plate, it reaches the centre of the plate. Near the nanotube free surfaces, the image force on the dislocation was large and could substantially affect the dislocation behaviour.

Elastic Behavior of a Screw Dislocation in the Wall of a Hollow Nanotube. M.Y.Gutkin, A.G.Sheinerman: Physics of the Solid State, 2007, 49[9], 1672-9