Dynamics and sound attenuation in viscoelastic polymer containing hollow glass microspheres

The practical design of composite material suggests that there is a need for an improved quantitative understanding of the interaction between acoustic waves and microspheres. The multiple scattering method is used to investigate the sound attenuation of the viscoelastic polymer containing hollow glass microspheres. Then the dynamics of the hollow glass microspheres is investigated by reference to the elements of the scattering matrices. It shows that the dilatational vibration of the microsphere plays a key role in the sound attenuation within the viscoelastic polymer composite at the quasistatic region. The thinner glass shell undergoes more severe dilatational vibration and induces more attenuation in the polymer composite. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.