Vibration Damping: What Is It and What Rubber Is Best for It?

Posted By:  Sperry & Rice

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.

Substrate Adhesion

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. 

Durometer

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.

Resistance

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

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

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

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.

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Butyl Rubber

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. 

With a plethora of standard and custom-made vibration products available in the market, figuring out the perfect anti-vibration isolators for your specific business application can be a daunting task.

While shape, size, material, and type of vibration dampeners are some crucial aspects to consider, six key factors can help you determine these design considerations of vibration isolation products.

Here are 6 factors to help you choose the perfect vibration isolator for your business application:

1. Moving or stationary components:  

The complexity of the vibration mounts is determined by the movement of different components in an industrial machine. If the components are stationary, it is much simpler to control vibrations by avoiding direct contact between metal parts. However, if the components move during operation, then we must ensure that the anti-vibration product stays intact throughout the process.

2. Weight of the component that needs to be isolated:

​ Another aspect that dictates the design of your perfect vibration dampeners is the weight of your component that requires isolation. Often, the weight of the component along with static or dynamic load applied to the component determines the material of the vibration isolators. 

3. The number of mounting points:

​If your equipment or its components are mounted on a base at multiple mounting points, it creates a huge impact on the strength of the material to be used for anti-vibration products. The weight of the component along with the number of mounting points determines the strength of the anti-vibration material. The more the mounting points, the better the weight distribution and the easier it becomes to design vibration isolators.  

4. Center of gravity:

​ The balance of equipment is decided by the position of its center of gravity. We need to know the center of gravity of the machine with respect to the position of the vibration dampener to design a vibration solution for the best results.

5. Source of vibration:

​ Different components of equipment vibrate at different frequencies. These vibrational frequencies control the amount of movement of these components. By identifying the source of vibration, we can decide whether vibration isolation mounts, spring hangers, rubber pads, or any other vibration dampener would work best for your application.

6. Environmental conditions:

​The environmental conditions in which your equipment operates have a huge impact on the material and type of the vibration isolator. If your equipment is subjected to a lot of heat or seismic movements, then you would need a vibration dampener that can function properly in these adverse environmental conditions.

Vibrasystems takes all these aspects into account while chalking out design considerations, and helps you choose the right anti-vibration product for your specific needs. Browse through our catalogue of standard products or give us a call for manufacturing customized vibration solutions.