Rubber Damper Design 1

[mprice]

I am designing a small (Dia 26mm x 200mm) roller mechanism that currently has an expensive spring and oil damper suspension system. I would like find a cheaper solution, possibly using a rubber damper. Can anyone recommend any useful sources of design data for rubber damper design?

Thanks

 

[Speedy]

Try the sorbothane site (

http://www.sorbothane.com).

This material is particularily good for shock absorbtion. There is also a good design package which can be down-loaded.

Just a few design tips from my limited experience.
- most elastomers, while soft, are highly incompressible, i.e they have a high bulk modulus. The amount of area which is free to bulge under load is therefore critical.
- materials which are good shock absorbers have a high tan delta value. This is the phase angle between the elastic stresses and viscous stresses. As the rate of deformation increases the elastic stresses will remain the same while the viscous stresses will tend to increase. It is these viscous stresses which dissipate energy as heat.This phase angle is measured from experimentation and is dependant on temperature and rate of deformation.


Speedy