Practical aspects in measuring vibration damping of materials

Already many years material damping data is available from literature, but often there is no consistency in the presented damping values. One reason is the wide availability of testing apparatus for measuring damping, each having its own pros and contras. Next to that, damping data can be analysed in many ways such that obtaining a uniform damping value for a specific material is far from obvious. The work in this paper focuses on finding an accurate and repeatable test method for measuring low damping values. It is found that the suspension has a large influence in test setups for low damping measurements and that material damping varies with sample geometry and stress level.