Effect of CaCO3 Nanoparticles on Vibrational Damping Behavior and Static Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Composite Plates: An Experimental Investigation

In this research, the effect of CaCO3 nanoparticles was experimentally investigated on vibrational damping behavior and static mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP). Hammer tests along with modal analysis were carried out to evaluate the forced vibration behavior of composite plates under  one edge clamped support conditions while tensile tests were performed to assess the static mechanical properties. A comparison of the results showed an increment in the static mechanical properties of nanocomposites by increasing the nanoparticles content in the PP matrix. Composite with 10 wt.% nanoparticles showed the highest rise in Young’s modulus (39.71 %) compared to pure PP. An increment in Young’s modulus and stiffness led to an increasing trend in the damped natural frequencies of the nanocomposites so that the composite with 10 wt. % nanoparticles showed the highest damped natural frequency augmentation (23.6 %, 36.78 %, and 252.62 %) compared to pure PP in the first three modes. In addition, an enhancement in the nanoparticles content of the PP matrix led to an increasing trend in damping ratios of the nanocomposites such that the composite with 10 wt. % nanoparticles in the first mode (28.99 %) and composite with 7.5 wt. % nanoparticles in the second and third modes (418.66 % and 9.93 %) showed the highest rise in damping ratio compared to pure PP. Increasing damping ratios can be due to the proper dispersion of nanoparticles in the matrix and consequently energy dissipation of the stick-slip mechanism between the matrix and nanoparticles. Moreover, high nanoparticle contents had destructive effects on both the static and dynamic behavior of the composites.