Strain dependent damping characteristics of a high damping manganese-copper alloy

Abstract

This paper presents the studies on measurement techniques developed for the determination of strain-dependent damping characteristics of materials in an air environment. The material is a high damping manganese-copper alloy called Sonoston. The measurement techniques employ cantilevercd flat beam specimens in bending and cylindrical specimens in torsion. The specimens were subjected to three different heat and aging treatments. Pure random and sinusoidal sweep excitations are used as an excitation source in the frequency range of 20 to 500 Hz. Miniature acceleromcters and strain gages were mounted on the specimens to obtain both input excitation and output responses. The results of the investigation are presented graphically as damping factor vs. resonant frequency, damping factor vs. strain, damping factor vs. input acceleration, strain vs. resonant frequency, strain vs. input acceleration, and input acceleration vs. resonant frequency.