Models for Materials Damping, Loss Factor, and Coefficient of Restitution

Abstract

Common parameters between metallic and polymeric materials are the coefficient of restitution, the damping coefficient, and loss factor. Although the relationship between the coefficient of restitution and the loss factor is quite direct, their dependence on the damping coefficient is not so simple and mainly affected by the adopted model used to describe the material response under impact. In the present study, Kelvin–Voigt linear model and Hunt–Crossley complex model are analyzed to describe how the coefficient of restitution depends on the viscous damping coefficient of impact. The correlation between the theoretical models and the experimental data is also shown. A simple method to predict the impact damping factor of both polymeric and metallic materials from the measured temporal signal of the impact force is demonstrated.