Adaptive multifunctional composites

Abstract

The adaptive multifunctional composite structure studied here is to address two issues remaining in lightweight structural composites required by many engineering applications. The first is to add additional functionality to multifunctional composites and the second is to provide adaptive damping in structures that cover a wide range of frequencies and temperatures. Because of its potential for practical payoffs, passive structural damping can find wide application through the use of high-damping viscoelastic polymers or elastomers. However, all passive damping using these damping materials suffer from failing at certain temperatures and in certain frequency ranges. The extreme environments often seen by engineering systems provide high temperature, which is exactly where damping levels in structures reduce causing unacceptable vibrations. In addition, as loading frequencies reduce damping levels also fall off, and many loads experienced by large structures are low frequency. The proposed research addresses increasing the range of effectiveness of damping by addressing the temperature and frequency dependence of material damping by using a multifunctional composite system containing an active element. Previous research has yielded a finite element model of linear viscoelastic material and structural behavior that captures characteristic frequency-dependent behavior, continuing research has addressed the accommodation of temperature dependence, and the examination of the new concept of ‘electronic damping’ or ‘e-damping’. The resulting modeling approach is validated through experimental validation.