Jun. 05, 2025
Sometimes in products, or in industrial applications, vibration is an issue that requires a solution. In our business, we create solutions called vibration damping, and we do it with extruded rubber components.
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In fact, when vibration is an issue, the right rubber formulation can make all the difference. But first, let’s get back to basics. What is vibration?
Vibration is a mechanical occurrence where shaking or oscillations occur due to imbalances in a rotating part (like a motor) or uneven friction. If vibration isn’t controlled, it can cause damage to the entire assembly or unit, specific parts, or even worse, fail and cause damage far beyond a part failure. To prevent any of these bad things from happening, you need vibration damping materials and components.
Vibration damping uses materials, often rubber, to absorb vibrations caused by machinery or moving parts. It
can take the form of rubber vibration mounts, pads, washers, isolators, or gaskets, and can be made with a variety of rubber compounds, but are commonly made of natural rubber, EPDM, neoprene, and butyl rubber.
We’ll cover these materials one by one, but first, a few qualities that vibration dampeners require: adhesion to substrates, durometer, and resistance to other substances (ie, chemicals, oils, heat). Which material you choose for your vibration damping needs will depend on your application, and it’s important to know how different rubber compounds perform under different conditions.
No material can deaden vibrations if it doesn’t adhere to your parts or components. If a rubber doesn’t adhere well to your substrates, it will fall off and render the damping useless.
Making sure the rubber used in your damping components isn’t too hard or too soft is crucial. Too hard and you may lose damping ability; too soft and your part may tear and fall off. It’s important to test different formulations to determine the exact right durometer for your project.
Considering the environment in which your rubber components will be used is extremely important. Vibration dampeners need to survive and lead a productive life, so understanding what elements the rubber will be exposed to is crucial. Temperature, oils, chemicals, weather, etc., can wear down parts and cause failure so it’s vital to understand rubbers’ interactions with its environment.
There are a few different vibration damping rubber materials used in most applications:
Natural rubber is a good vibration damping material that features high tensile strength, but its main drawback is that it doesn’t hold up well outdoors or in conditions that feature oils, due to its poor oil resistance.
EPDM is a synthetic rubber that features high resistance to heat and weather and features excelled substrate adhesion and durometer. It can also be formulated in numerous different compounds for many different applications.
Neoprene excels in two specific areas for vibration damping: its superior adhesion to substrates, and its resistance to oil. Neoprene is a bit more expensive than other rubbers but its ability to stick to substrates (especially metal) and its ability to perform in oily conditions makes it a great damping option.
Butyl rubber is a synthetic rubber that features low gas and moisture permeability and is extremely resistant to heat, abrasion, and tearing, which makes it an excellent option for damping vibrations.
As you can see, vibration damping parts and components can be made with a variety of rubbers, but it is crucial to find the best performing and most cost-effective option for your project. But that can be difficult unless you are a rubber expert. Fortunately, Sperry & Rice has a trained team of engineers experienced in all rubber formulations to help you determine which is right for your next project.
Sperry & Rice offers innovative engineering, advanced manufacturing processes, and comprehensive quality controls to produce precision extruded synthetic rubber components for the HVAC, automotive, transportation, and appliance industries. Our reputation lies in making sure that the rubber we provide makes the finished products of our clients reliable, and of the highest quality.
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Vibration is the periodic back and forth motion of the particles of an elastic body or medium. It usually arises when a physical system is displaced from its equilibrium condition and allowed to respond to the forces that tend to restore equilibrium.
The motion may be periodic, as in the motion of a struck pendulum. Or the motion can be completely random, such as the movement of a tire rolling along a rough road.
As defined in physics, vibration is the oscillating, reciprocating, or other periodic motion of a rigid or elastic body or medium forced from a position or state of equilibrium.
In some cases, vibrations can be advantageous—as with the reed in a woodwind musical instrument or in a vibratory parts hopper that dispenses discrete items from a funneled drum. But in many cases vibration is destructive. It can waste energy and create imbalances, friction, and failure in mechanical devices.
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Vibration and sound studies are closely associated. Sound waves are generated by vibrating structures. These pressure waves also induce the vibration of structures or systems. Attempts to reduce unwanted noise are generally related to issues of vibration.
Free vibrations occur when a system is momentarily disturbed and free to move without restraint.
Consider a classic example such as when a weight is suspended from a spring. In equilibrium, the system has minimum energy and the weight is at rest. In contrast, if an external force pulls the weight down and releases it, the system will respond by vibrating vertically.
Consider another example of a child pulling back on a swing and letting go. The mechanical system vibrates at one or more of its natural frequencies and eventually damps down to motionlessness.
Forced vibration is when energy is added to a mechanical system—as in a system that is continuously driven by an external agency.
The periodic input can be a harmonic or a non-harmonic disturbance. A simple example is a child’s swing that is pushed on each downswing. Of special interest are systems undergoing simple harmonic motion and driven by sinusoidal forcing.
This causes the phenomenon of resonance. Resonance occurs when the driving frequency approaches the natural frequency of free vibrations. The result is a rapid take-up of energy by the vibrating system, with an attendant growth of the vibration amplitude.
Damped vibration is the depletion of energy. When a vibrating system is damped there is energy loss.
Depending on the motion inputs and the application’s modes of vibration, damping can be through dry-friction interfaces, mechanical devices, and arrangements that use viscous damping, and the integration of elastomeric engineered materials.
Viscoelastic materials damp vibration through a mechanism known as hysteretic damping. As these materials are distorted, internal friction causes energy loss.
Damping vibrations help manufacturers minimize equipment downtime and boost system efficiencies.
Vibration damping can happen through proper implementation of viscoelastic components. When vibrations are damped, they are removed from the system in a couple of ways. They can be absorbed into materials that release vibration energy as small amounts of heat energy, or they can be changed to different frequencies that don’t resonate with the parts of the machine.
Viscoelastic materials are often used for vibration damping. Here are a few of the most common uses.
A pad of viscoelastic material is created for moving parts of the machine. The pad sits between the parts that are causing excess vibrations.
As the parts move, it conforms to the movement to absorb some of the vibration energy. It then stores that energy and releases it as heat energy. This removes vibration from the system and keeps the machine from breaking down or making too much noise. Unconstrained damping is by far the simplest way to address vibration in machinery.
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In this type of vibration damping, the viscoelastic damping material is lined with a thin piece of flexible metal. It works similarly to unconstrained damping, but it can be more efficient.
Constrained damping in this may be used for machines that need close control of vibrations.
Directed damping, designed to keep specific wavelengths of vibrations out of a system. This is often because of the need to keep resonant frequencies from causing serious damage to machinery or motors.
Damping vibration is the dissipation of energy. Isolating vibration is the prevention of vibration transmission.
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