Effect of fiber coating on the longitudinal damping capacity of fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites

A novel model for calculating the damping capacity of continuous fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites (FNWCs) is proposed based on the viewpoint of energy loss. Finite element method (FEM) has been employed to investigate the effect of fiber coating on the longitudinal damping capacity of a composite by varying the thickness and the material properties of the coating. The results show that the damping of a composite containing the elastic coating increases with a decrease in the elastic modulus of the coating, while for the case of plastic coating, the weak coating or the high elastic modulus coating may help in improving the overall damping of composite. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.