Application of voice coil actuator to the measurement of rubber mounts properties

Rubber mount is the device that commonly used for vibration isolation in many mechanical designs. Many measurement methods are studied for better characterizing the dynamic properties of the rubber mount. This paper focus on the application of the voice coil actuator in the characterization of rubber mounts properties. The stiffness and loss factor of the rubber mounts at certain frequency are measured by using voice coil actuator. Voice coil actuator is used as the force actuator to provide the input force to the rubber mount. Hysteresis loops are generated from the measured data. Loss factor are evaluated from the plotted hysteresis loop. The results measured by the voice coil actuator are compared with the shaker excitation method that is the common method in the dynamic characterization of the rubber mounts. The findings from this study show the good correlation for the validation. This provides the alternative measurement method for the dynamic characterization of rubber mount.