Influence of some factors on the damping property of fiber-reinforced epoxy composites at low temperature

Fiber-reinforced composites are applied widely as supporting and connecting structures in cryogenic engineering because of their high strength and low thermal conductivity. In these applications, materials are often under cyc lic loading. Knowledge of damping behavior at low temperature is of importa nce. In this paper, the influence of some factors on the damping property o f fiber-reinforced composites at low temperature is discussed. These factor s include fiber, temperature change direction, loading frequency, loading w aveform, moisture and stress level, etc. Some explanations to these experim ental results are given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .