Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Relative Density on the Compressive Behaviour of Metal Mesh Isolator

Abstract

Vibrations, considered one of the major problems in the engineering applications, are analyzed to predict their detrimental effects on the equipment and structures. The metal mesh isolator, named also metal rubber, has become widely applied to mitigate the disturbing vibration due to its special production techniques. Metal rubber is a kind of novel style porous damping material that is manufactured via a process of wire-drawing, weaving and compression moulding. This paper investigates the influence on the compression and dissipative behaviour of the metal mesh isolator provided by the relative density. The mechanical properties of five metal mesh samples with cylindrical geometry and with different relative density are obtained from a quasi-static cyclic compression test. The loading-unloading results of the five samples, subjected to a constant compression level, show the strong dependence exerted by the relative density over the compressive properties. Experimental analysis indicated that the porosity affects the stiffness but has an opposite effect regarding the loss factor. By increasing the ratio between the isolator’s and wire’s densities, the nominal stiffness increases, but the reduction of loss factor is obvious.