By definition, vibration refers to the periodic motion of a rigid or elastic body that arises when a physical system is displaced from its state of equilibrium. The motion can be either periodic, such as in the case of a struck pendulum, or just random, such as a tire rolling along a rough road. In any case, there is vibration that is happening. While in some cases, it is beneficial for vibration to occur, in many situations, however, it can be destructive by creating friction, wasting energy or making machines fail. Hence, a vibration damper becomes important.
Damped vibration is simply depletion of energy and whenever a vibration is damped there is energy loss. This is the major purpose of a vibration damper. Its main characteristics include good damping coefficient, wide temperature range stability, and long fatigue life. The process of vibration damping can occur with the right implementation of viscoelastic components and elements. Once the excess vibrations are properly damped, they can then be removed from the system in several ways.
First, they can be absorbed into materials that are capable of converting the vibration into small amounts of heat energy. Alternatively, they can be altered into different frequencies that won’t resonate with other components of the machinery. Typically, it is the viscoelastic materials that are used as a vibration damper. Damping vibration can occur in two various ways.
Unconstrained damping: so far, this is the simplest way to resolve vibration in machines. There is a pad that is made for certain moving parts of the machine and is placed between the vibrating parts. Every time the part moves, the pad conforms to it and then absorbs the vibration, stores it, and releases it as heat energy. It then lowers the noise produced by the vibration.
Constrained damping: while the objective of this way is the same as that of unconstrained damping, it works even more efficiently. The vibration damper material is lined with a thin piece of flexible metal that is used for machines that require higher levels of controlling the vibration.
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