A new vibration damping CFRP material with interlayers of dispersed piezoelectric ceramic particles

In this paper, the author summarizes the previous works on the passive damping of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) cantilever beams using: (1) interleaving of viscoelastic thermoplastic films, (2) surface-bonded piezoelectric ceramics, and (3) dispersed PZT particles interlayers. Introducing polyethylene-based film interlayers between composite plies resulted in a significant increase in the vibration loss factor. It is also shown that the vibration damping of CFRP laminates can be improved passively by means of resistively shunted, surface-bonded piezoelectric ceramic, PbZrO3–PbTiO3 (PZT) sheets. In particular, the author developed an original method to enhance vibration damping of CFRP laminates via dispersed PZT particles interlayers. All these damping methods can be jointly used to improve the damping of CFRP laminates/structures. The usefulness of the damping concepts dealt in this work is verified through an application of the method to the actual design of robotic arm. The robotic arm designed and manufactured using damping CFRP materials showed an excellent vibration damping in comparison with those made with conventional CFRP and aluminum materials.