Improving damping performance of fiberglass-reinforced resin matrix composites by designing viscoelastic sandwich layer

Abstract

A new type of damping composite structure was fabricated by embedding polymer materials into the phenolic resin matrix fiberglass-reinforced laminates. The damping layer of novel damping composites shows the characteristics of anti-aging and strong adhesion compared with the traditional damping composites. The ingredients of the polymer material were studied according to the orthogonal test method. The curing mechanism of resin matrix and vulcanized characteristics of polymer damping material were combined in the design process. The damping composite structures were researched by single cantilever beam vibration and modal analysis techniques to determine its damping characteristics. The least square method was used to calculate the loss factor of the damping composites. It was observed that the damping performance of co-cured composites was significantly enhanced compared to traditional damping composites. When the thickness of damping layer is only 0.1 mm, the composite loss factor increases by as much as 49%. The embedding of damping layer has a positive effect on structural stiffness. The work indicates that the low-temperature co-cured phenolic resin matrix damping composite has broad application prospects in vibration reduction.