Measurement of dynamic properties of viscoelastic materials

A new method for measurement of viscoelastic properties of materials, based on the exact solution of the problem of the forced oscillations of a flat sample loaded by inertial mass, is proposed. The device for these measurements is described. The elasticity modulus and loss tangent are measured within the frequency range from 100 Hz to 10 kHz at relative deformation of a sample below 1%. The approximate formulas for calculation of viscoelastic properties are derived, and the conditions of their applicability are determined. The methods for expansion of the frequency range and measurement of materials with extremely high loss tangent are proposed. The proposed method is compared with the current Standard. It is shown that the new method has the higher accuracy and expanded range of parameter measurements, and the construction of device is easy and reliable, since it does not require the knowledge on the oscillation properties of vibration source. The work was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 06-08-00193-a).