Technical Notebook: Effects of polymer type and Prophene on vibration isolator performance

The purpose of this paper was to better understand the role of compound variables (including polymer type and a novel filler called Prophene-brand graphene) on vibration isolators. The first part of the paper examined the effect of polymer type on vibration isolators. The role of polymer type was determined and found that it had a significant effect on transmissibility and dynamic to static modulus.

The second part of the paper examined the effect of Prophene on vibration isolators. The role of Prophene was examined in four vibration isolator formulations. Adding Prophene in place of carbon black to the formulations provided a route to improve isolators (reduce their transmissibility) without loss of modulus between 10 percent and 100 percent strain. The dynamic to static ratio using 0.5 phr Prophene ipo 6 phr carbon black was approximately equal to the control. Other key physical properties were equal or improved (including heat build-up, tear, crack growth resistance), but will not be discussed in this paper.