What’s the Best Vibration Resistant Material?

Explore the need for a vibration resistant material.

• • Vibration impacts us in many ways—outside of the workplace as well as in the work environment.

• • At work, employees are exposed to vibration when operating heavy machinery, pneumatic hand tools, industrial equipment, commercial vehicles, and material handling devices. Vibration exposure comes in the form of whole body vibration and segmental vibration (affecting only one part or segment of the body). Whole body vibration may be experienced by the operator of a bulldozer, fork lift, tractor trailer, or farm implement. Whole body exposure may result in fatigue, degenerative disc disease, impaired circulation, and various other medical conditions. Segmental vibration can originate from the operation of manufacturing and production equipment, as well as the use of nail guns, jackhammers, and other pneumatic tools. Exposure to segmental vibration can lead to wrist problems and Vibration White Finger.

• • Vibration is also responsible for the shortening of machine life and damaging susceptible items during shipping. Outside of the work environment, vibration can: decrease appliance life; degrade sound quality in audio equipment; damage delicate optics; and destroy sensitive electronics.

• • To address vibration exposure issues, you need to ask— What’s the best vibration resistant material? Sorbothane® is that material—the best vibration isolator/damper in use today.

Vibration resistance displays isolation and damping properties.

• • A good vibration resistant material must display superior isolation and damping characteristics. It will resist vibration by: isolating the source of vibration, decreasing its strength (amplitude), or eliminating harmful frequencies—such as resonance frequencies (natural frequency of a substance/system, when matched by the frequency of the impacting vibration, sets up the situation in which the vibration waves continually build on one another, thereby creating vibration of ever increasing strength). This material must be capable of efficient absorption of energy—capable of effectively absorbing vibration energy at the source of impact.

• • What’s the best vibration resistant material? Sorbothane is that material.

What is Sorbothane and how does it provide vibration resistance?

• • Displaying liquid and solid attributes, the polymeric material, Sorbothane, is a viscoelastic material.

• • At the source of vibration impact, this one-of-a-kind substance flows, in the manner of a viscous liquid.

• • Displaying memory characteristics far beyond other materials, Sorbothane functions as an elastic solid, reconfiguring to its original shape, with the removal of the vibration source.

• • Effectively absorbing, and safely releasing (outward from the source of vibration energy impact), the energy of vibration, Sorbothane is demonstrating its superior damping coefficient.

Use Sorbothane vibration resistant products.

Effective vibration resistance can be accomplished by employing unique Sorbothane products. These include: Silent Feet, Bushings, Threaded Mounts, Grommets, Anti-Vibration Gloves, Mounting Hemispheres, Stops, Washers, Bumpers, Pallet Isolation Rings, and Sorbothane Sheet Stock and Strips. Since Sorbothane is capable of being cast in any thickness, size, or shape, it is extremely customizable. Consequently, it serves as the most ideal vibration resistant material for incorporation into your product or equipment design.

Contact us. Contact us at Sorbothane so that our highly experienced engineers can provide assistance with your specific vibration resistance applications.