International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 44 (2004) 15271536 www.elsevier.

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The damping capacity improvement of machine tool structures by balls packing

Yasunori Wakasawa a,, Masatoshi Hashimoto a, Etsuo Marui b
a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyota National College of Technology, 2-1 Eisei-cho, Toyota-shi 471-8525, Japan b Faculty of Engineering, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu-shi 501-1193, Japan Received 20 November 2003; received in revised form 7 April 2004; accepted 6 May 2004

Abstract Ecient manufacturing is achieved by the damping capacity improvement of machine tool structure. The purpose of this study is to clarify the parameters inuencing the damping capacity of machine tool structures packed with balls. In structures closely packed with balls, various damping characteristics appear in correspondence with the ball size and other conditions. The eect of ball size is the most signicant factor in these structures. Excitation of structure is necessary for close packing, however, this process is troublesome. Excitation of structure is required to achieve an optimum packing ratio where the maximum damping capacity is obtained. For a 50% packing ratio, this excitation process is not necessary to obtain a stable damping capacity. Therefore, the eects of magnitude of impulse, packed ball material, and structure size on the damping capacity are investigated at a 50% packing ratio. Finally, actual machine tool structure models are constructed, and the eectiveness of the balls packing for the damping capacity improvement is investigated. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Damping capacity; Packing condition; Vibration; Machine structure packed with balls; Machine tool structure; Specic gravity; Friction coecient; Repulsion coecient; Structure size

1. Introduction In forging machines, high-speed press machines and plain milling machines, a transient vibration generates in the operation and it exerts a bad inuence on ecient manufacturing. Also, in cantilever tools as boring bars, damping capacity is low and various dampers have been suggested for ecient manufacturing. One of these proposals is a damper (impact damper) that uses a collision of solids. This type of damper is simple in structure and has wide exibility in machine structure applications. The impact damper packed with granular materials has been reported by Yokomichi et al. [1] There are also many other interesting studies on impact dampers [26]. However, the damping capacity of such structures packed with granular materials or balls is induced from various energy consump

Corresponding author. Fax: +81-565-36-5924. E-mail address: waka@toyota-ct.ac.jp (Y. Wakasawa).

tion mechanisms creating many parameters that aect the damping characteristics. It is also dicult to correctly understand the behavior of the individual balls. As a result, the generation mechanism of the damping capacity is not necessarily clear. The authors have investigated the damping capacity improvement of machine tool structures utilizing closely packed glass balls [7]. The eects of ball size, ball arrangement and excitation direction on damping characteristics were examined in an experiment of impulsive excitation. However, it was found that in the case of close packing, the degree of freedom of the packed balls is small, and sucient and stable improvement of the damping capacity cannot be obtained for some ball sizes. Therefore, it is important to examine the eects of other packing methods and to nd a structure packed with balls which has a more eective damping capacity. Furthermore, for the damping capacity improvement of machine tool, the studies on the epoxy resin concrete

0890-6955/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2004.05.001

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machine tool bed [8] and the ferrocement machine tool bed [9] have been reported. In the present study, we rst examined the eect of packing ratios to obtain stable damping capacity. Secondly, at the packing ratio where a stable damping capacity is obtained, the eects of impulsive force, structure size and specic gravity of the packed balls on damping capacity were examined experimentally. Furthermore, to understand the damping capacity of structures packed with balls in more detail, the eect of waveform in impulsive excitation, friction and repulsion coecients of packed balls, and ball behavior during damping vibration were investigated. Finally, actual machine tool structure models are constructed, and the eectiveness of the balls packing for the damping capacity improvement was investigated.

The model structures are drawn square pipes of stainless steel (SUS 304 in JIS) with an outer side of 2550 mm, wall thickness of 1.5 mm (inner side b 22 47 mm) and length L 500 mm. Seven kinds of balls of dierent materials of equal diameter (5 mm) are used in the experiment. Ball materials are polypropylene, glass, aluminum, alumina, ferrite, steel and brass. The magnitude of the impulsive force was F 150 N due to the convenience of excitation.

3. Characteristics of the damping waveform and vibration dissipation time in impulsive excitation A typical diagram of the damping wave in impulsive excitation is shown in Fig. 2. Here, characteristic values, which give the features of the damping waveform, are explained. The largest amplitude immediately after the impulsive excitation is called the initial amplitude. In the case when there is space between the packed balls and the structure, the amplitude does not vary for a few vibration periods. This time span is called the non-damping time span. After this time span, the amplitude decreases until the residual amplitude becomes innitesimally small. This time span is called the damping time span. Moreover, the time between the initial amplitude and the innitesimally small residual amplitude is called the vibration dissipation time T. This feature T is used as one of the main characterizing factors of the damping capacity.

2. Experimental apparatus and method The main elements of the machine tool structures are bed, support, column, head, and so on. Vibration generation in these machine tool structures and cutting tools is troublesome. Therefore in this paper, machine tool structures are represented by simple square pipe models. And the damping characteristics of these structures are examined by balls packing. Fig. 1 shows the experimental apparatus of this study. The fundamental structure of this apparatus is the same as that of a previous study [7]. Model structures were suspended by stainless steel wires at the position of nodes of the fundamental vibration mode, and the center was impacted by an impulsive hammer. The impulsive force and the output signal from a small and light accelerometer bonded at a position 10 mm from the end were transmitted to an FFT analyzer through a charge amplier and bandpass lter. Utilizing the time history of impulsive force and acceleration, the damping ratios obtained from the frequency response curve were examined.

4. Eect of various parameters on damping capacity 4.1. Eect of packing ratio and impulsive force In a previous study [7], it was found that damping capacity was not suciently improved at some ball sizes in close packing. Excitation of structure is necessary for close packing, however, this process is troublesome. Therefore, the eect of packing ratio on damping capacity is examined to determine an optimal

Fig. 1.

Experimental apparatus.

Fig. 2.

Schematic drawing of damping wave.

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Fig. 3. Eect of packing ratio on vibration dissipation time.

packing method other than close packing. The damping capacity of the model structure was estimated by the above-mentioned vibration dissipation time. Packing ratio b is the ratio of packed balls volume to structure cavity volume. The eect of packing ratio b on the vibration dissipation time in cases of glass and steel balls is shown in Fig. 3. Packed ball size is d 3 mm. In the packing of glass balls, the vibration dissipation time becomes short with the increase in the packing ratio. Vibration dissipation time T is shortest at a slightly smaller packing ratio than the close packing state. At close packing, the vibration dissipation time becomes extremely long and the damping capacity declines rapidly. In comparison, in steel ball packing, the vibration dissipation time is almost constant beyond a packing ratio of 40%. The vibration dissipation time is shortest at a slightly smaller packing ratio than close packing, as in the case of glass ball packing. Therefore, the damping capacity is maximized at the packing ratio immediately before close packing. However, it is well known that the maximum packing ratio is inuenced by the shape accuracy and the friction coecient of the balls [10]. The packing ratio where the maximum damping capacity is obtained differs depending on the size and the material of the balls. The damping capacity and the packing condition at the optimal packing ratio are shown in Table 1. In close packing, excitation of structure is necessary and damping capacity is low. Although the maximum
Table 1 Packing condition and damping capacity Packing ratio >60% 660% 50% 040% Damping capacity  v Packing condition (With excitation) (With excitation) v (Without excitation) v (Without excitation)

damping capacity can be obtained at the packing ratio slightly less than close packing, excitation is required to achieve this packing ratio. Furthermore, a delicate adjustment of the packing ratio is required. On the other hand, the incremental improvement of the damping capacity is not good at extremely small packing ratios. Therefore, the 50% packing ratio is the most practical where the troublesome excitation process is unnecessary and a stable damping capacity is obtained. Here, we examine the case of the 50% packing ratio in detail. Packed ball size is d 5 mm. At a 50% packing ratio, the damping characteristics are expected to dier depending on the magnitude of the impulsive force because a space of approximately several millimeters exists between the packed balls and the inner surface of the structure. The damping waveform in the cases of 50 and 150 N impulsive forces and 50% glass ball packing are shown in Fig. 4a,b. The damping waveform diers according to the magnitude of impulsive force. In the case of the 50 N impulsive force, the amplitude decreases linearly with time. In the 150 N impulsive force case, after a nondamping time span, in which the initial amplitude continues, the amplitude decreases rapidly, then decreases gradually. From these results, it can be considered that all packed balls are not necessarily in a moving state when the impulsive force is small. There are two behaviors in the packed ball movement. In the rst behavior, the packed balls contact the structure wall and induce a friction force. In the second behavior, the

Fig. 4. Free vibration response (packing ratio 50%). (a) Impulsive force 50 N; (b) Impulsive force 150 N.

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Fig. 5.

Eect of impulsive force on damping ratio.

Fig. 6. Eect of model structure size on vibration dissipation time (packing ratio 50%).

packed balls are in a moving state owing to the transmission of the impulsive force. The eect of the impulsive force F on the damping ratio f is shown in Fig. 5. In the case of close packing, the damping ratio f increases slightly with the increase in the impulsive force F, as seen in the gure. At the 50% packing ratio, the damping ratio f changes drastically when F 150 N, and is almost constant when F ! 150 N. The damping ratio of the structures with packed balls is approximately larger than 0.02, as shown in Fig. 5. This value is larger than the damping ratio in the case of the epoxy resin concrete machine tool bed given by Kim et al. [8]. Therefore, the damping capacity improvement of machine tool bed may be realized by the balls packing. 4.2. Eect of structure size and specic gravity of packed ball The 50% packing ratio reaches a stable damping capacity from a simple packing process. At the 50% packing ratio, the damping capacity varies with the magnitude of the impulsive force, but the damping ratio remains approximately constant when F ! 150 N. These ndings are obtained in the case of several structure sizes. When the structure size is changed at the 50% packing ratio, it is expected that the damping capacity varies with the structure size due to the weight change of the packed balls and the vibration behavior alteration. Therefore, the eect of the structure size on the damping capacity is examined next. The eect of the structure size b on the vibration dissipation time T is shown in Fig. 6, for both glass and steel ball packing. The packed ball size is d 5 mm. In the packing of both glass and steel balls, the vibration dissipation time becomes shorter with the increase in the structure size. The vibration dissipation time of glass ball packing is longer than that of steel balls packing. However, the vibration dissipation time of

both types of ball packing becomes approximately equal at the structure size b 50 mm. It is clear from the results presented in Fig. 6 that damping capacity is aected remarkably by the structure size. We investigated factors that have brought about such results. We rst examined the eect of the weight of packed balls on damping capacity. The weight of the structure changes according to the structure size. The magnitude of the impulsive force is constant during the experiment, so the vibration energy given to the structure is not changed by the structure size. Thus we now examine the weight of packed balls. The vibration dissipation time for various structure sizes in Fig. 6 is arranged according to the ball weight mB. In glass ball packing, the vibration dissipation time becomes shorter rapidly with an increase in ball weight up to 1000 g. When the ball weight is greater than 1000 g, the vibration dissipation time decreases gradually. In contrast, in steel ball packing, the vibration dissipation time decreases almost linearly with the increase in the structure size. Therefore, the vibration dissipation time decreases with the increase in the weight of the packed balls and the damping capacity incremental improvement is remarkable. The results are given in Fig. 7. It can be understood from the gure that the damping

Fig. 7. Eect of ball weight on vibration dissipation time (packing ratio 50%).

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capacity becomes saturated at a level when the ball weight is large. At approximately the 1000 g ball weight, a small dierence is recognized between the vibration dissipation time for glass and steel ball packing in spite of equal ball weight. The packed balls weight is equal in both cases, but the structure size is larger for glass ball packing. The small dierence in vibration dissipation time is induced from the dierence of the structure size. At the 50% packing ratio, the natural frequency of the structure packed with balls is equal to that of square pipe without ball packing. The natural frequency becomes large with the increase of the structure size. Thus, collisions between the packed balls and inner surface of the model structure become more frequent as the structure size increases. This tendency is evident in Fig. 7. From the discussion in the previous section, the damping capacity is remarkably inuenced by the ball weight. In the non-obstructive particle damping (NOPD) technique [6], it is reported that the damping capacity can be improved with an increase in the specic gravity of packed balls in the stable excitation state. Details of the damping eect of the specic gravity of packed balls in impulsive excitation is not made suciently clear in such reports. Therefore, we investigated the damping capacity of model structures packed with balls of dierent specic gravity by extensively changing the specic gravity. Moreover, noise generation was also examined. The eect of specic gravity c of packed balls on the vibration dissipation time T and the maximum noise level LAmax is shown in Fig. 8 for the case d 5 mm and a 50% packing ratio. The vibration dissipation time T decreases with the increase in the specic gravity of the packed balls. So, the damping capacity is improved with the increase in the packed ball weight. In the case of the 50% packing ratio, packed balls have a considerable degree of freedom, and the damping

capacity is inuenced by the motion of all the packed balls. The details are discussed in Section 5.1. The magnitude of the maximum noise level LAmax is measured by a precision type noise meter positioned 150 mm from the model structure. The maximum noise level is improved with the increase of the specic gravity of packed balls. Therefore, when the specic gravity of packed balls is large, both the vibration damping capacity and the noise generation level are improved simultaneously. In the above, the eect of the structure size and the specic gravity of packed ball on damping capacity were examined. When the structure size and the specic gravity of packed ball are large, a high damping capacity improvement is obtained and the damping ratio becomes approximately 0.1. This value is fairly high compared with the damping ratio between 0.012 and 0.018 obtained in the ferrocement machine tool bed by Rahman et al. [9]. The structure, the excitation and the supporting method are similar to our study. Therefore, it is again ascertained that the application to the machine tool bed of the balls packing is eective for the damping capacity improvement.

5. Considerations on damping capacity generation 5.1. Form of damping wave It is found that the vibration dissipation time is short and the damping capacity is improved with an increase in the specic gravity of packed balls as shown in Fig. 7. Further examination of the point elucidates the following points. Fig. 9a,b shows the eect of specic gravity on the characteristic factors of the damping wave shown in Fig. 2: initial amplitude a0, decrement from initial amplitude aD, residual amplitude aR, nondamping time TN, and damping time TD. With an increase of the specic gravity, the initial amplitude decreases linearly, and the decrement from the initial amplitude increases linearly. The residual amplitude is almost constant irrespective of the specic gravity. With an increase in the specic gravity, the non-damping time shows a weak decreasing tendency. The damping time shows a strong decrease c 4 at and a weak decrease at c > 4. It is clear from these results that the damping capacity is improved with an increase in the specic gravity. 5.2. Measurements of repulsion coecient and static friction coecient of ball In Section 5.1, it was found that the specic gravity is an important parameter inuencing damping capacity. In this section, the eects of the repulsion

Fig. 8. Eect of specic gravity on vibration dissipation time and maximum noise level (packing ratio 50%).

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Fig. 10. Relation between repulsion coecient and specic gravity.

Fig. 9. Eect of specic gravity on damping wave (packing ratio 50%). (a) Initial amplitude, decrement from initial amplitude and residual amplitude; (b) Non-damping time span and damping time span.

coecient and the friction coecient on the damping capacity are examined. Table 2 gives the experimental results of the specic gravity of packed balls, the friction coecient against the SUS304 plate, and the repulsion coecient with square pipe. From the table, the relation between the repulsion coecient and the specic gravity is obtained as shown in Fig. 10. The average repulsion coecient decreases with the increase of the specic gravity. However, the tendencies of the aluminum and brass balls dier from the average. The repulsion coecient of the aluminum ball is extremely small for its specic gravity. Therefore, the damping capacity cannot be reguTable 2 Specic gravity, friction coecient and repulsion coecient of ball Material Polypropylene Glass Aluminum Alumina Ferrite Steel Brass Specic gravity 0.9 2.5 2.8 3.6 5.0 7.8 8.5 Friction coecient 0.37 0.28 0.38 0.36 0.30 0.29 0.33 Repulsion coecient 0.69 0.40 0.12 0.19 0.15 0.11 0.15

lated only by the magnitude of the repulsion coecient. The repulsion coecient is determined both by deformation of the model structure and the ball as shown in Fig. 11. The model structural deformation from the aluminum ball is large compared with the other type balls, judging from the values of Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio. Thus, it can be easily deduced that the repulsion coecient is small for its specic gravity. The friction coecients of polypropylene, aluminum and alumina balls are a little larger than those of balls of other materials. The dierence between the maximum and minimum values of the friction coefcient is approximately 0.1. Moreover, the eect of this dierence in the friction coecient on the damping capacity is small, as a steady correlation between the friction coecient and the damping capacity does not appear. Thus, it is conrmed that the damping capacity generation can be reasonably understood by the specic gravity of packed balls. 5.3. Observation of packed ball movement The main factors generating the damping capacity by packed balls are the collision and friction among the packed balls and between the packed balls and the

Fig. 11. Deformation of square pipe and ball by collision.

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inner surface of the square pipe. It has been claried in a previous report [7] that the damping ratio could be successfully regulated by the values of the repulsion coecient for glass balls of dierent diameters closely packed in structures. However, the damping capacity can be reasonably understood in terms of the specic gravity of the packed balls, as seen when balls of the same size and dierent material were packed at a 50% packing ratio. This result is thought to be due to dierences arising after the balls are packed. In close packing or packing at the maximum damping capacity, small spaces remain between the packed balls and the inner surface of the square pipe. The collisions among the packed balls themselves and between the packed balls and the inner surface occur immediately after the impulsive excitation. In contrast, at a 50% packing ratio, there is approximately several millimeters of space between the packed balls and the inner surface. The collisions between the packed balls and the inner surface do not occur immediately after the impulsive excitation. Therefore, the generation mechanism of the damping capacity diers between close packing and the 50% packing ratio. The packed ball movement at the 50% packing ratio is now examined. Fig. 12 briey shows the measurement of the packed ball movement. The model structure is supported by knife-edges, since the structure, hung by stainless steel wire, tended to swing from the force of the impulsive excitation. An 8 mm diameter hole was drilled at a position 10 mm from the end of the model structure. As a laser beam from a laser displacement meter with a response frequency of 16 kHz passes through the hole, the movement of the uppermost ball layers is observed.

Fig. 13. Ball movement (alumina ball, d 5 mm).

Fig. 13 shows the observed results of the alumina ball movement. The ball movement of the uppermost layer does not follow the vibration of the fundamental mode (650 Hz) of the structure. The balls moved upward once during the damped vibration of the structure. In close packing, the collision between the model structure inner surface and the packed balls produces a grate inuence, since the space between the packed balls and the inner surface is very small. At the 50% packing ratio, however, this type of collision does not occur due to the large space between the packed balls and the inner surface of the model structure. The vibration energy of the structure is transmitted to the packed balls and the damping capacity is improved by the upward movement of the packed balls. The relation between the maximum displacement Dmax and the specic gravity is shown in Fig. 14. The maximum displacement increases with the decrease in the specic gravity of the packed balls. Therefore, when the specic gravity is small, the packed balls can easily move upward and the friction among the packed balls decreases. Furthermore, the vibration energy is dissipated by the collision and, hence, the damping capacity decreases, when the packed balls are light.

Fig. 12. Measurement of packed ball movement (packing ratio 50%).

Fig. 14. Eect of specic gravity on maximum displacement (packing ratio 50%).

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6. On eectiveness of balls packing in machine tool structures 6.1. Damping characteristics of structure with three packing rooms In Section 4.2, the eect of the structure size on the damping characteristics is examined. However, when a large structure is packed with balls at the 50% packing ratio level, it is impractically heavy. Also, the machine tool structure as shown in Fig. 15 has many spaces and the rib exists for reinforcement of the milling machine and the bed of lathe. Therefore, the damping characteristics of a structure that has three packing rooms is examined. Fig. 16 shows the section of the structure with three packing rooms. The model structure has three packing rooms of stainless steel (SUS 304 in JIS) with the following dimensions: outer size of 25 mm 72 mm, length 500 mm, and wall thickness of 1.5 mm. The experiments are carried out under various conditions, such as the number of the packed rooms, the packed room position and the posture of the structure (vertical or horizontal). The packing ratio of the glass balls in each packing room is 50%. As in the experiment in the previous section, the magnitude of the impulsive force is 150 N. The packing rooms are identied as 1, 2 and 3 room in the case of vertical arrangement, and as A, B and C room in the case of horizontal arrangement. However, in the case of horizontal arrangement, the eect of the packed rooms number on the damping capacity is examined considering the weight balance. Fig. 17a,b shows the eect of the packed rooms number on vibration dissipation time in the case of vertical and horizontal arrangement. It is conrmed that the damping capacity can be improved with the increase of the packed rooms number. However, in both cases of vertical and horizontal arrangement, the dierence between the vibration dissipation time of two rooms packing and three rooms packing is small and

Fig. 16. Machine tool structure with three packing rooms; (a) Vertical arrangement; (b) Horizontal arrangement.

the damping capacity can eectively be improved by two rooms packing. Moreover, from the experimental results of Fig. 17a, the largest damping capacity is obtained when the balls are packed in the lowest room 3. 6.2. Damping characteristics of machine tool structure models As an experiment related to actual machine tool structure, two types of machine tool structure models were constructed and the damping capacity improvement due to application of packed balls was examined. The radial boring machine has a construction that a column is xed on a base and a moving radial arm is on the column. As another example, a milling machine has a column and a head. In many cases, the machine tool base has T-type construction because the table and the supporting column of cutting tool are connected. These machine tool structures are constructed by connecting two cantilever beams. On these machine tool structures, the damping capacity improvement is important. Fig. 18 shows the machine tool structure model (type A), constructed by two square pipes with an outer side of 100 mm. One pipe is the column and the other is the head or the radial arm. Packed ball size is d 5 mm and the material is glass, with 50 % packing ratio. Two pipes are connected by welding. The damping characteristics of this machine tool structure model were examined. Glass balls are packed in each part 1 or 2, or in both parts 1 and 2. Part 1 was excited. Fig. 19 shows the vibration waves in the cases of no packing (Fig. 19a) and the case of balls packing in both parts 1 and 2 (Fig. 19b). Fig. 20 is the obtained

Fig. 15. Example of machine tool structure.

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Fig. 17. Eect of number of packing part on vibration dissipation time. (a) Vertical arrangement; (b) Horizontal arrangement.

capacity improvement is small when balls are packed only in the part 2. Fig. 21 shows the machine tool T-type model (type B), constructed by two perpendicularly intersecting square pipes with an outer side of 100 mm. Fig. 22 is the obtained result with the type B model. In the type B model, an accelerometer was bonded on the part A, which was excited. The damping capacity is eectively improved by balls packing at the excited part. This is the same tendency recognized in Fig. 20. From the above results, the damping capacity of machine tool can be improved by application of balls packing in the actual machine tool structures.

Fig. 18. Machine tool structure model (type A).

7. Conclusions In this paper, an eective means is proposed to improve the damping capacity of the machine tool structures. Some experiments and considerations on the damping capacity improvement of machine tool structures packed with balls are carried out by widely varying

result of the damping characteristic in the type A model. An accelerometer was bonded on the part 1. Damping capacity can eectively be improved by balls packing in the excited part 1. However, the damping

Fig. 19. Free vibration response in type A model. (a) Without packed balls; (b) Balls packing in parts 1 and 2.

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Fig. 20. Measured damping capacity of the type A model.

2. At the 50% packing ratio, the damping capacity is aected by the structure size and the packed ball weight. The damping capacity can be improved by increasing the packed ball weight. 3. When the packed ball materials were changed, the damping capacity improved remarkably by increasing the specic gravity of the packed balls. The damping capacity at a 50% packing ratio was also aected by the impulsive force. 4. Detailed observations of the damping waveforms were carried out and some characteristic parameters were examined. Damping capacity generation could be evaluated more accurately by the specic gravity of the packed balls than by the frictional coecient or the repulsion coecient. 5. The damping capacity of a model structure that has three packing rooms was investigated through the eects of the number of packed rooms and the packed room position. 6. In two types of machine tool structure models, that is, the column and head model and the T-type model, it was conrmed that the damping capacity is eectively improved by balls packing.

References
Fig. 21. Machine tool structure model (type B). [1] I. Yokomichi, Y. Araki, J. Jinnouchi, J. Inoue, Impact damper with granular materials for multibody system, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology 118 (1996) 95103. [2] A. Papalou, S.F. Masri, Performance of ball damper under random excitation, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 118 (1996) 614621. [3] J.J. Moore, A.B. Palazzolo, R. Gadangi, T.A. Nale, S.A. Brown, G.V. Brown, A.F. Kascak, A forced response analysis and application of impact dampers to rotor dynamic vibration suppression in a cryogenic environment, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 117 (1995) 300310. [4] C. Cempel, G. Lotz, Eciency of vibrational energy dissipation by moving shot, Journal of Structural Engineering 119 (9) (1993) 26422652. [5] L.A. Chen, S.E. Semercigil, A beam-like damper for attenuating transient vibrations of light structures, Journal of Sound and Vibration 164 (1) (1993) 5365. [6] H.V. Panossian, Structural damping enhancement via nonobstructive ball damping technique, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 114 (1992) 101105. [7] Y. Wakasawa, M. Hashimoto, E. Marui, Damping capacity improvement of machine structures by close packing with balls, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 42 (2002) 467472. [8] H.S. Kim, K.Y. Park, D.G. Lee, A study on the epoxy resin concrete for the ultra-precision machine tool bed, Journal of Materials Processing Technology 48 (1995) 649655. [9] M. Rahman, M.A. Mansur, W.D. Ambrose, K.H. Chua, Design, fabrication and performance of a ferrocement machine tool bed, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 24 (1987) 431442. [10] R.K. McGeary, Mechanical packing of spherical balls, Journal of the American Ceramics Society 44 (10) (1961) 513522.

Fig. 22. Measured damping capacity of the type B model.

the packing ratio, the impulsive force, the structure size and the packed ball material. The following results were obtained : 1. A packing ratio of approximately 50% is optimal, since the excitation process of structure is unnecessary and a high level of damping capacity is obtained.