Improvement of vibrodamping properties of polyvinyl acetate-graphite composites by electron beam processing of the filler.

The effect of electron beam processing (energy 900 keV, absorbed dose in the range from 25 to 600 kGy) of graphite upon the efficiency of its use as a filler in polyvinyl acetate (PVA) based vibrodamping composites is studied. Graphite treatment at optimal doses above 200 kGy is found to provide a significant increase of damping loss factor for these composites at ambient and especially at elevated temperatures. The observed improvement of vibrodamping properties correlates with the increase in the content of Broensted centers (hydroxyl groups) on modified graphite surface probably due to the additional bonding of the filler particles with each other and PVA binder.