Experimental Characterization of Viscoelastic Materials as Vibration Dampers

Experimental procedures for the determination of physical properties of viscoelastic materials are discussed in this paper. Two well-known methods—a standard ASTM method and the other based on indirect measures—are compared to the method proposed here that uses direct measures of forces and response in terms of displacements or accelerations. Two kinds of materials were tested using these three methods; some conclusions, stressing the advantages of the suggested methodology, are presented at the end of the paper.