Determining dynamic properties of a nanoscale aerogel via an advanced transfer function method

Abstract

A newly-published transfer function method is employed to determine dynamic properties of an aerogel. Termed the "dynamic mass method," it can be applied to any porous, elastic material and is thought to be superior to previous methods because it employs a mass as a function of frequency and produces data that is frequency-dependent in the complex regime, which is a more accurate representation of elastic materials. Moreover, losses are determined seamlessly as imaginary components of their associated properties, which eliminates the need to calculate additional loss factors. The properties of this aerogel with respect to vibrational loading in particular are of interest because it has been manufactured relatively inexpensively compared to other similar materials currently available. The specimen is tested by fixing it between two steel plates of known mass and attaching the system to a shaker. Impulse-response data is collected by driving the shaker with a log-sweep-sine signal. Transforming the data into the frequency domain allows for spectral analysis of multiple properties, including dynamic mass, density, impedance, Young's modulus, and speed of sound in the material. The resulting data suggests that the frequency range for valid data is wider than those of previous implementations of other transfer function methods. Additionally, the material that was tested appears to be a good candidate for use as a vibration isolator because of its low ratio of input force to bottom and top acceleration at low frequencies, and because it is ductile in the same frequency range. However, the material's behavior in shear dynamic loading situations needs to be studied before anything definitive can be said about its potential as a commercial noise and vibration isolator.