HIGH DAMPING CAPACITY STRUCTURAL METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

A NEW CLASS OF METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES (MMC'S) BASED ON POLYMERIC REINFORCEMENTS WAS RECENTLY SHOWN TO BE FEASIBLE IN OUR LABORATORIES. PROPERLY DESIGNED, SUCH COMPOSITES WOULD HAVE LOW DENSITY IN ADDITION TO HIGH STRENGTH, TOUGHNESS, AND FATIGUE RESISTANCE. MOREOVER, THE ACOUSTIC DAMPING CAPACITY IS POTENTIALLY EXCEPTIONAL. IN THE PROPOSED WORK, NEWLY DEVELOPED MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY WOULD BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE CONTINUOUS PILOT-SCALE PRODUCTION IN PRACTICAL QUANTITIES SUITABLE FOR ENGINEERING CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTOTYPE STRUCTURES AND TO DEMONSTRATE THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF SUCH A PROCESS. PRELIMINARY PROCESS/STRUCTURE/PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS WILL BE OBTAINED TO ESTABLISH INITIAL PERFORMANCE ENVELOPES AND DESIGN CRITERIA.