Have you ever counted how many objects around us have viscoelastic properties? Or are you new to the term viscoelasticity? The word ‘viscoelasticity’ refers to two words that represent the properties of ‘viscosity’ and ‘elastic’. the properties of this material will only come out if deformation occurs. Deformation is a change in the size or shape of an object.
Materials that have the ability of viscoelasticity include any type of polymeric materials. Viscoelastic polymer refers to two things namely stretch and elasticity. Strain or stretch is highly time-dependent. Meanwhile, elasticity is the result of bond strain along a plane in a regular solid.

Main Benefits of Viscoelastic Polymer Products

There are so many viscoelastic polymer products around us. You can find softball gloves that will make your hands comfortable and anti-slip during the game. Then, there are insulating pads in a room that can prevent extreme temperatures from entering through the cracks into the room. And do you know if the giant bell that becomes the icon of a city or country also uses viscoelastic polymer as a silencer?

The main benefits of products made from viscoelastic materials include that they can be used to dampen noise, isolate vibrations, and absorb shocks. All these materials will release energy which is then absorbed as heat.

Functional Properties of Viscoelastic Polymer in Food

What was the last celebration you attended? Is it a new year’s party, thanksgiving, baby shower, or welcoming a new house? There’s always food served at the celebration party where you can easily find viscoelastic polymer in it.
It could be pudding that you enjoy for dessert, a salad dressing that you pour over fresh fruit, jam on bread, jelly your child chews on, marshmallows, tofu in soup, cream cheese on the cake, and hot dogs for starters. All of these dishes are delicious and appetizing because they contain reliable gelling agents and stabilizers.

The gel can be obtained from some cellulose products that are specially processed to get the right texture and taste. The gel is in a solid and liquid position and is composed of long-chain polymers that are viscoelastic. This polymer gel has a complex network consisting of linear strands to branched networks to spherical structures resembling glass. The gel can thicken and be in a stable form. Furthermore, this viscoelastic polymer material for food can be used for some functions including:

• It gives stickiness to the liquids.
• It can make food elastic or brittle.
• It can control the growth of ice crystals and sugar.
• It is easier for food to spread, to become soft and chewy.
• It can replace fat.

Viscoelastic Polymer for Building Materials

How do you determine the quality of building materials before drawing your money? Will you check the elasticity and adhesion of cement or other material yourself? Or maybe you just buy based on friends’ referrals and surveys on the internet?

Whatever way you take to find out the quality of building materials, it should be adapted to existing technological developments. Building materials now are in the form of viscoelastic polymer.

Lightweight, elastic, not easy to rust, weather-resistant, chemical resistant, and easy to manage is certainly a dream for the homeowner. Workers are also happy to work on the house construction process if they use this viscoelastic polymer-based material.

Look at Japan, which has already chosen viscoelastic polymer material to enter the construction industry. Minimal natural resources and the tendency to have high-tech innovations make Japan choose this material. Europe and America also use viscoelastic polymer material technology because of the limited wood there.

Construction materials that are usually provided by industrial entrepreneurs in Europe and America include complimentary materials for gluing plywood, coatings for decoration, protection of materials, and patching. There is also viscoelastic polymer which is used for nonstructural purposes such as flooring, vapor suppression, and wall cladding. Next, people also look for fibers and fillers used for structural and semi-structural purposes that increase rigidity and strength.

Viscoelastic Polymer for Noise Control

Heavy equipment vibration management in factories must be taken seriously. The noise and vibration emitted from the machine during use are unlikely to pose a hazard to the production process. But it makes the people who work around it become distracted so that it is difficult to concentrate.

Damping to control noise in the engine needs to be done immediately so as not to cause prolonged adverse effects. You can engineer the whole machine but you need to know the other consequences like extra noise coming from other moving parts. On the other hand, the option of isolating some of the moving parts from the rest of the machine and functioning only occasionally is also possible.

One of the things that are quite effective in noise control is using a substance that has viscoelastic polymer properties to block, absorb, and dampen noise. This material will absorb the sound waves so that they do not reach the ear.
Anyway, viscoelastic material means that it has liquid properties that dampen noise, solid, and elastic which can absorb sound waves and release them back in the form of little heat energy. The form of this viscoelastic damping device is usually a small noise control pad.

You can buy viscoelastic polymer products from various manufacturers according to your needs. If it is for the damping of the engine on certain parts, you need to place a custom order where the company can make a damper pad according to the portion of the machine. You can also mobilize several people at the factory to create viscoelastic polymer pads that can be designed however you like but are careful in the calculations.