Using Taguchi method in Fabricating of MWCNT/Natural Rubber Vibration Isolator

This article is to apply Taguchi method to optimize the process parameters for MWCNT/Natural rubber composite as vibration isolator. The objectives of well-known Taguchi method for robust parameter design are to find out the best combination of design parameters and reduce the variation for quality from minimum number of experiments, and thereby optimize the quality of products. This paper investigates the effect of control parameters, such as, wt. % of carbon nanotube, sonicating method, and the time of sonication, which is related to the force reduction in transmissibility of vibration isolator under various fabricating conditions. It has been found that MWCNT/NR isolator fabricated by this methodology can obtain a higher damping ratio and better vibration isolation compared to pure natural rubber isolator. Therefore, the presented MWCNT/NR composite can be considered a substitute for rubber vibration isolator.