The Control of Structural Vibration by Frictional Damping in Electro-Discharge Machined Joints

Abstract

EDM joints are attractive for use in structures because the machining operation is cheap and easy to perform, while producing joints with good conformity of interface. It is shown that EDM joints have high static and dynamic stiffness and possess up to 100 percent more damping capacity than ground joints, while surface damage due to fretting corrosion is reduced by an order of magnitude. For all joints tested, the fretting action caused an increase in the damping and a decrease in the dynamic stiffness, the maximum variations being 60 percent and 5 percent respectively, after 107 cycles.