Armored polymer-fluid gels with integrated damping and impact protection across broad temperatures.

Abstract

Unpreferable vibrations and impacts pose substantial risks to sensitive devices, structures, and the human body, demanding materials capable of providing both high energy dissipation and impact protection across a broad temperature range. Traditional damping materials often fail to meet these demands because of a trade-off between damping and mechanical strength. We introduce an innovative strategy to fabricate armored polymer-fluid gels (APFGs) that combine high damping and high modulus for effective damping and impact protection under extreme conditions. By using a controlled surface cross-linking process through diffusion, we greatly enhance the mechanical strength of polymer-fluid gels without sacrificing their damping capabilities. This asymmetric design results in an unprecedented loss factor (tanδ > 0.5 from -45 degrees to 135 degrees Celsius, peaking at tanδ = 2.2) while achieving a tensile modulus of 20 megapascals. This method resolves the long-standing damping-modulus trade-off, positioning APFGs as promising candidates for robust damping and impact protection in electronics and human motion applications.