Material Damping Properties: A Comparison of Laboratory Test Methods and the Relationship to In-Vehicle Performance

This paper presents the damping effectiveness of free-layer damping materials through standard Oberst bar testing, solid plate excitation (RTC3) testing, and prediction through numerical schemes. The main objective is to compare damping results from various industry test methods to performance in an automotive body structure. Existing literature on laboratory and vehicle testing of free-layer viscoelastic damping materials has received significant attention in recent history. This has created considerable confusion regarding the appropriateness of different test methods to measure material properties for damping materials/treatments used in vehicles. The ability to use the material properties calculated in these tests in vehicle CAE models has not been extensively examined.

Existing literature regarding theory and testing for different industry standard damping measurement techniques is discussed. This discussion is followed by the comparison of damping treatments through laboratory testing. Finally, the material properties generated from laboratory results are compared to the material's in-vehicle performance using a computer model from Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA).