Experimental observations on material damping at cryogenic temperatures

Chia-Yen Peng; Marie B. Levine; Lillian Shido; Robert Scott Leland

doi:10.1117/12.561173

Translator Disclaimer

30 September 2004 Experimental observations on material damping at cryogenic temperatures

Chia-Yen Peng, Marie B. Levine, Lillian Shido, Robert Scott Leland

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5528, Space Systems Engineering and Optical Alignment Mechanisms; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.561173
Event: Optical Science and Technology, the SPIE 49th Annual Meeting, 2004, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

This paper describes a unique experimental facility designed to measure damping of materials at cryogenic temperatures for the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The test facility removes other sources of damping in the measurement by avoiding frictional interfaces, decoupling the test specimen from the support system, and by using a non-contacting measurement device. Damping data reported herein are obtained for materials (Aluminum, Aluminum/Terbium/Dysprosium, Titanium, Composites) vibrating in free-free bending modes with low strain levels (< 10-6 ppm). The fundamental frequencies of material samples are ranged from 14 to 202 Hz. To provide the most beneficial data relevant to TPF-like precision optical space missions, the damping data are collected from room temperatures (around 293 K) to cryogenic temperatures (below 40 K) at unevenly-spaced intervals. More data points are collected over any region of interest. The test data shows a significant decrease in viscous damping at cryogenic temperatures. The cryogenic damping can be as low as 10-4 %, but the amount of the damping decrease is a function of frequency and material. However, Titanium 15-3-3-3 shows a remarkable increase in damping at cryogenic temperatures. It demonstrates over one order of magnitude increase in damping in comparison to Aluminum 6061-T6. Given its other properties (e.g., good stiffness and low conductivity) this may prove itself to be a good candidate for the application on TPF. At room temperatures, the test data are correlated well with the damping predicted by the Zener theory. However, large discrepancies at cryogenic temperatures between the Zener theory and the test data are observed.

Citation Download Citation

Chia-Yen Peng, Marie B. Levine, Lillian Shido, and Robert Scott Leland "Experimental observations on material damping at cryogenic temperatures", Proc. SPIE 5528, Space Systems Engineering and Optical Alignment Mechanisms, (30 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.561173

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE