The Temperature Dependent Damping Behavior of Novel Nanocomposites for Structural Materials Applications

Near nanoscale fine particles including vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were incorporated into matrix materials (tin and polymer adhesives). A number of mechanical damping tests were conducted on the prepared composite materials at frequency ranges of 0 − 2 kHz and over a broad temperature range. The mechanical vibration test results showed that VO 2 and ZnO gave significantly higher negative-stiffness (or damping) at approximately 68 °C (155 F) and 29 °C (85 F). For example, approximately 15% and 12% damping values were achieved at first and second resonance frequencies, respectively, which can potentially prevent vibration on the materials. This significant improvement on the damping of the nanocomposite material may be because of the ferroelasticity, viscoelasticity and/or interfacial sliding at those particular temperatures. It was also observed the etching of substrate surfaces improved adhesion and contributed consistent results to vibration testing reproducibility. Thus, it is concluded that nanocomposite existing damping properties can be an important method to achieve large damping responses over a broad temperature range.