Abstract
The polymer composite material filled with piezoelectric ceramic particles and electroconductive particles is a damping material, which has a new damping mechanism. In addition to this new mechanism, this composite has conventional damping properties due to the viscoelasticity of polymer and the interparticle-friction of fillers. The new damping mechanism, called “the piezoelectric damping effect”, is due to piezoelectricity and consumptive circuits in the composite material. Mechanical vibration energy, transmitted to piezoelectric particles, is converted into electric energy by piezoelectric effect is converted into Joule′s heat through the conduction paths between electroconductive particles. In this study the relationship between the damping performance and the elastic modulus of this composite was discussed. The piezoelectric effect of this damper relates to the effectiency of vibration-transmission in the composite material. The elastic modulus and the damping performance of the composite material were measured as a function of piezoelectric particle sizes. As a result of increasing the elastic modulus, total damping performances are decreased, but the contribution of the piezoelectric damping effect is increased and the other viscoelastic and interparticle-friction effects are decreased. These phenomena can be explained qualitatively with the dispersion model in two-phase composite materials.
