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The Role of Rubber Products in Vibration and Shock Insulation

Regardless of their purpose, machines vibrate on some level. While a minimum amount of vibration is not an issue, an abnormal amount of it will cause problems, such as friction, excessive noise, imbalances and even complete failure. As a result, industries that heavily rely upon machines need to address the problem of vibrations to be able to perform their operations smoothly day after day.

The Role of Rubber Products for Controlling Vibrations and Shocks

The use of specially designed rubber mounts is an effective way to minimise vibrations in machines, regardless of the cause for them. These mounts also provide shock protection. Rubber mounts resist oil and grease to last for a long time, and they offer an adequate level of isolation efficiency. You will be able to easily fit these into your operating budget too since they are highly affordable. A wide range of rubber mounts are available today to address numerous situations and machines. Standard ones are made with chloroprene rubber to ensure that they stand up to grease and oil. Other types of rubber are available upon request to suit other environmental conditions. They also offer protection of all three axes, which makes them ideal for use in compressors, mobile generators and other machines.

Before you can know how to accomplish this for your own company, though, you must understand the causes of vibrations as well as how to minimise them.

Causes of Machines Overly Vibrating

Misalignment of Parts

Machine parts must be in proper alignment for the machines to work with as little vibration as possible. When such parts as the rotator shafts are out of alignment, the machines will overly vibrate and can cause damage if not addressed. Misalignment can happen due to thermal expansion, assembly error or daily wear.

Loose Connections

Fasteners can loosen over time just through normal use of the machines. Also, bearings will loosen once they show signs of wear or if they are not securely mounted. Either of these situations cause machines to vibrate sufficiently to damage components when serious enough and are left unchecked. Other elements of the machines also can develop loose connections.

Axis Imbalance

One crucial part of a machine that must stay in balance to prevent abnormal vibrations from occurring is an axis. The imbalance can happen due to dirty or malfunction fan blades, manufacturing defects or other reasons. It is important to address this issue quickly since the vibration can increase the faster the machine runs.

Normal Wear and Tear

Another cause of abnormal vibrations is that machine parts will suffer normal wear from daily usage. Wear is from numerous operational stresses including thermal expansion just for one example.