Micromechanics of Composites with Integrated Shear Thickening Fluids

Shear thickening fluids (STFs) are typically composed of a concentrated stabilized dispersion of rigid sub-micron particles in a carrier fluid and show a marked increase in viscosity beyond a critical shear rate [1]. It has been demonstrated that STFs can be integrated in dynamically loaded structures to tailor their damping and stiffness properties [2]. Potential applications are alpine skis where STFs can be used to damp low frequencies at high amplitude deformation known to deteriorate the ski-snow contact. In this paper, a micromechanical approach to is used study the effect of STFs interfaces on damping of unidirectional (UD) composites.