Damping Characterization and Analysis of Carbon Nanofiber-Modified Composite Laminates

In this paper, the damping characteristics of nanocomposite plates were studied via experimental methods. The nanocomposite plates with different weight percentages of carbon nano fibers (CNFs) in the polymer matrix were fabricated using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. The damping ratios of the nanocomposite plates were tested and the results show a significant increase of the damping ratio of the plates with a small amount of CNFs. Between a CNF-free plate and a 1.5 wt% CNF-modified plate, over a two-fold decrease in amplitude in the vibration response was observed. The damping factors obtained from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) are consistent with the results obtained using PZT. The CNF-modified polymer composites have potential applications in aerospace and wind turbine, where increased structural damping is preferred.