How to Reduce Vibrations

Though much of the research focus has been on improving the strength and stiffness of nanomaterials, a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has directed their attention to another important property: damping.

They have found that dispersing nanotubes throughout traditional materials creates new composites with vastly improved damping capabilities. And they have also shown for the first time that these damping properties are enhanced as the temperature increases.

"Traditional damping polymers perform poorly at elevated temperatures. Our new materials provide excellent damping at high temperatures, suggesting that these nanocomposites show great potential for a variety of applications in aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, automobiles, and even sensors for missile systems, basically any structure that is exposed to vibration," said Nikhil Koratkar, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer and lead author of the paper.

Carbon nanotubes are made from graphite-like carbon, where the atoms are arranged like a rolled-up tube of chicken wire and offer an impressive combination of high strength and low weight. Unfortunately, their commercial success has been limited.

One of the interesting applications of these nanocomposites is their usage in diaphragms of loud speakers to help improve sound quality by reducing the buzz associated with high bass levels.