Vibrational damping of composite materials

The purpose of this research was to develop new methods of vibrational damping in polymeric composite materials along with expanding the knowledge of currently used vibrational damping methods. A new barrier layer technique that dramatically increased damping in viscoelastic damping materials that interacted with the composite resin was created. A method for testing the shear strength of damping materials cocured in composites was developed. Directional damping materials, where the loss factor and modulus could be tailored by changing the angle, were produced and investigated. The addition of particles between composite prepreg layers to increase damping was studied. Electroviscoelastic materials that drastically changed properties such as loss factor and modulus with an applied voltage were manufactured and tested.