A study of damping in fiber-reinforced composites

Damping contributions from the viscoelastic matrix, interphase and the dissipation resulting from damage sites are considered to evaluate composite material damping coefficients in various loading modes. The paper presents the results of the FEM/Strain energy investigations carried out to predict anisotropic-damping matrix comprising of loss factors η₁₁, η₂₂, η₁₂ and η₂₃ considering the dissipation of energy due to fiber and matrix (two phase) and correlate the same with various micromechanical theories. Damping in three phase (i.e., fiber-interphase-matrix) composite is also calculated as an attempt to understand the effect of interphase. The contribution of energy dissipation due to sliding at the fiber-matrix interface is incorporated to evaluate its effect on η₁₁, η₂₂, η₁₂ and η₂₃ in fiber-reinforced composite having damage in the form of hairline debonding. Comparative studies of the various micromechanical theories/models with FEM/Strain energy method for the prediction of damping coefficients have shown consistency when both the effect of variable nature of stress and the fiber interaction is considered. Parametric damping studies for three phase composite have shown that the change in properties of fiber, matrix and interphase leads to a change in the magnitude of effectiveness of interphase, but the manner in which the interphase would affect the various loss factors depends predominately upon whether the hard or soft interphase is chosen. Analysis of the effect of damage on composite damping indicates that it is sensitive to its orientation and type of loading.