Inner relationship between the damping property and the sand‐fixing durability of polymer materials

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article for the first time reveals the impact of the damping property of materials on its sand‐fixing durability. Based on the turbulence of wind, it could be regarded as a kind of periodic mechanical force. So, when polymers are used to fix sand, they would constantly perceive a periodic force of wind. And, this force would give rise to yielding fracture and fatigue of polymer, so that the sand‐fixing durability of material could be weakened significantly. To impair the periodic force of wind and extend the durability of sand‐fixation polymer materials, we, for the first time, introduce the designing principle of macromolecular damping material, that can transform external mechanical force into own thermal energy, into the preparation of sand‐fixing materials. In this work, poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) emulsions with different dangling chain have been synthesized successfully in order to improve their damping properties. The effects of the prepared PVAc with gradually growing dangling chain length have been investigated on their damping properties, on the sand stabilization strengths and sand‐fixing durability. And the relationship between the damping property and the sand‐fixing property of PVAc was built by simulating wind tunnel test. The experimental results show that, introducing the dangling chain could significantly improve the damping temperature range and extend the anti‐wind erosion time of PVAc. It has to be noticed that, introducing the dangling chain, will provide a double effects for the sand stabilization strength of materials, i.e., it can improve both the flexibility of the side‐chain and the internal friction of the molecular chains. Wind tunnel test verified that introducing the dangling chain can raise the damping performance of material and convert more periodic force of wind into the friction heat of molecular chain, and thus impair the damage of wind on the materials and improve their anti‐wind erosion properties. These findings suggest that the damping material applied in sand fixation is a bright idea and successful method for improving the sand‐fixing durability. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47208.