Highly Damped Lightweight Wavy Composite
Abstract
Wavy composite had its origin in the Star Wars programs of the late 1980s as part of a space-based laser anti-missile program and is a new material that exhibits both high stiffness and damping when combined with capable viscoelastic materials. If high modulus fibers are used in the production of the wavy composite, it is possible to attain the stiffness of steel, thousands of times the damping, with the lightweight advantages of graphite-based composite. Prior to this effort, wavy composite had never been modeled accurately, tested comprehensively, or adequately characterized, and there was no capability to produce commercial grade wavy composite. This contract focused on creating and characterizing this new material system. Comparisons with test data have shown that the finite element code developed for this contract accurately models this new material. The FEA code has been shown to be accurate to 5% when predicting stiffness in tubes tested in the axial mode. The damping results are even more reliable, typically accurate to within 2%. This material has been shown to reduce vibrations at resonance by a minimum of 96% and as much as 99% over a broad band of frequencies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA399874
Entities
People
- Matthew S. Allen
- Troy J. Skousen
- William F. Pratt