Novel Principle of Mechanical Energy Dissipation (Part 1-Static Performances of Colloidal Damper)

Abstract

A novel application of Nano-Technology in the field of Mechanical Engineering, called Colloidal Damper (CD), is investigated. This device is complementary to the Hydraulic Damper (HD), having a cylinder-piston construction. Particularly for CD, the hydraulic oil is replaced by a colloidal suspension, which is consisted of a mesoporous matrix and a lyophobic fluid. In this work, the porous matrix is from hydrophobized silica gel and aqueous solutions (water and antifreeze agents) are considered as associated working liquids. A design solution from a practical point of view of the CD static test rig and the measuring technique of the static hysteresis are described. A synthesis of the CD static performances is presented, i. e., the influence of the mean pore diameter, mean particle diameter, particle architecture, liquid surface tension, working pressure, silica gel quantity, water evacuation and relaxation time is illustrated. Our findings agree with the previously published data.