Are Single Polymer Network Hydrogels with Chemical and Physical Cross-Links a Promising Dynamic Vibration Absorber Material? A Simulation Model Inquiry †

Tough, doubly cross-linked, single polymer network hydrogels with both chemical and physical cross-links display a high loss factor of the shear modulus over a broad frequency range. Physically, the high loss factor is resulting from the intensive adhesion–deadhesion activities of the physical cross-links. A high loss factor is frequently required by the optimization processes for optimal performance of a primary vibration system while adopting a dynamic vibration absorber, in particular while selecting a larger dynamic vibration absorber mass in order to avoid an excess displacement amplitude of the dynamic vibration absorber springs. The novel idea in this paper is to apply this tough polymer hydrogel as a dynamic vibration absorber spring material. To this end, a simulation model is developed while including a suitable constitutive viscoelastic material model for doubly cross-linked, single polymer network polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels with both chemical and physical cross-links. It is shown that the studied dynamic vibration absorber significantly reduces the vibrations of the primary vibration system while displaying a smooth frequency dependence over a broad frequency range, thus showing a distinguished potential for the tough hydrogels to serve as a trial material in the dynamic vibration absorbers in addition to their normal usage in tissue engineering.