Testing for material dynamic properties

Many methods have been developed and applied to study the dynamic behavior of materials in which vibration energy is dissipated. A number of the important methods are reviewed and compared in terms of their applicability to different conditions of amplitude and frequency and the nature of the instrumentation required to implement them. A recently developed base excitation, resonant mass test method for elastomer materials is described for the purpose of illustrating various sensors and methods of data acquisition. Since the objective of determining dynamic material properties differs in important respects from the objective of determining performance data for specific components, the nature of typical material behavior is also reviewed, and the additional constraints which must be imposed on tests designed to provide universally applicable material properties are identified.