Investigation of Damping and Vibrational Behavior in Multi-Material 3D-Printed Machine Mounts

In this study, the development of a novel machine mount utilizing an advanced polymer composite and porous materials is presented. Initially, a preliminary evaluation of the proposed materials was conducted, focusing on their static mechanical properties and their dynamic properties, and assessed through loading–unloading cycles and Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA). All tests were performed at the coupon scale, with specimens manufactured via Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Subsequently, a conceptual design incorporating the proposed materials was developed, and functional prototypes were fabricated using multi-material additive manufacturing techniques. The structural integrity of the prototypes was evaluated by analyzing their oscillatory response and damping behavior under laboratory-scale conditions, with transmissibility metrics extracted to quantify performance. The results indicate that all three prototypes exhibit adequate damping for machine mounting applications, ranging between 5% and 20%, with the porous variant demonstrating the highest damping performance (20.9%). In terms of load-bearing capacity, the porous configuration withstood loads up to 10 kN, while the standard TPU variant sustained up to 20 kN. The carbon-fiber-reinforced configuration exhibited the highest mechanical performance, tolerating loads up to 50 kN without significant structural failure.