Study of piezo-damping properties of CPE/ZKF/VGCF composites

The electrical and damping behaviors of chlorinated polyethylene (CPE)/2,2'-methylene-bis-(4-methyl-6-cyclohexylphenol) (ZKF)/vapor-grown carbon fiber (VGCF) have been investigated. CPE/ZKF/VGCF systems exhibit typical percolation characteristics of filled conductive polymer composites. For CPE/ZKF/VGCF composites, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) shows that, at the glass transition temperature (T-g) of CPE/ZKF system, the values of loss factor increase with the increasing VGCF content. Within the temperature range of 60-75 degrees C, the values of loss factor for CPE/ZKF/VGCF samples are higher than that of CPE/ZKF and present a peak at 16 vol% VGCF content. This implies that the piezo-damping effect is directly related to the conductive network formation in the composites, and the piezo-damping effect can be regulated by regulating the VGCF content. Therefore, the composite of CPE/ZKF/VGCF is a good damping material with a high and broad loss factor that can be regulated according to practical applications. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.