A combined honeycomb and solid viscoelastic material for structural damping applications

The goal of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a proposed combined polymer composite damping system. A new composite damping system, which consists of a polymer honeycomb and a viscoelastic solid material is introduced. This new system is primarily intended for energy dissipation and vibration control, whereby the combined viscoelastic system serves as an interface layer within lightweight composite panels subjected to in-plane shear. The basic concept and mechanical properties for combining the polymer honeycomb with 3M solid viscoelastic materials are investigated under different strain inputs and frequencies. Subsequently, numerical models are established in which the effect of the temperature and frequency are taken into account. The analysis results given by the simplified numerical modeling agree with the results of the experiment. This study also leads to useful information with respect to the optimum design of the combined damping system. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.