damping coating substances for speakers' cones ?

[alan-1-b]

Does any-one know the trade-names or chemical-constituent types of the substances that manufacturers use as coatings for their cones and/or soft domes to damp the amplitude of resonances ?
Eg:- such as SEAS use for their CA series of coated paper cone drivers ?

I refer specifically to substances that remain flexible and not to those which dry to semi-rigid , such as the varnishes do {and of which Dammar may be one , though I have not yet seen dammar} .

[sdclc126]

From what I've read here manufacturers don't reveal this kind of information - trade secret basically.

I think there are probably several different "formulas" for these substances out there, but all proprietary and not available to the general public.

I also remember reading that many coatings are applied to the driver material during the actual fabrication of the diaphragm, essentially impregnating it, as opposed to just applying it over the material afterward.

[alan-1-b]

Thanks for your comments CLC .
Indeed I know of the "trade-secret" aspect !

Of the several different formulae , some of these will be products with some major Industrial use , and which driver manufactures have chanced upon , somtimes as result of hiring a designer who had earlier found one of such . Also , Industrial suppliers send new product information to customers , as well as publish about in Industry Journals that most of us do not know the titles of .

[i]

I also remember reading that many coatings are applied to the driver material during the actual fabrication of the diaphragm, essentially impregnating it, as opposed to just applying it over the material afterward. [/B]

Indeed , and the better manufacturers get it right then , or at least for the primary intended purpose of the specific driver , which of course some of us tamperers in the DIY community wish to attempt ot put to some other purpose !

[noah katz]

I believe Lord BL-100 Butyl Latex is made specifically for that type of application.

I bought some once, I forget where, try googling.

[Tenson]

Latex is the main one I have heard of people using as well. I also wonder how well rubbing silicone into the paper cone would work. By rubbing it in it would get deeper into the paper than if you just painted on latex.

How about honey

[SY]

Honey and silicone will increase cone mass but contribute almost nothing to damping. Butyl latex, vinyls, and butylene-styrene copolymers are more common and effective.

[Tenson]

Why wouldn't silicone damp? I'd have thought its elastic nature would absorb energy well.

[alan-1-b]

Thanks guys for the info .
I'll see what Butyl Latex products are available .

Lords BL-100 is apparently no longer made , but as it was sold by the gallon and had a pot life of only 90 days , it would be for large scale manufacturers and not us DIYers , {unless we had a friend who could have brought out a small quantity!}.
I hope some of the other Butly Latexes are longer in container life , or available in small quantities .

I had thought about Silicone , and there are various formulated silicone products for caulking and sealing , each for adhering to different substances , thus a particular type for wood would adhere to a paper cone if it was not impregnated with something incompatable , though with the way silicone substances that I have seen to date , set , I am not sure silicone is the optimum , thus I can believe SY on this {thankyou SY} .
How-ever , I am an experimenter , so if I chance upon some of the wood adhering silicone I will try rubbing it into thick paper and thin cardboard and observing the results !

Honey , OK , probably written for humour , but let's keep the insects away from the cones { ! } , unless you live somewhere too cold for insects .

[noah katz]

The BL-100 I got was a pint or quart.

You might try some polyurethane caulk and thinning it down.

Or even a good quality latex paint that drys rubbery (low quality stuff can be crumbly); you could even spray it.

[Reilumeininki]

Hi!
Seas uses their excel paperdrivers "unique" treatment called by Nextel and claims that:"Nextel coating ensures smooth frequency and low distortion..."

Nextel is a polyurethan based paint/treatment and the product is easily available here in Finland as it should be allover the Europe.It is a 2K product and it will cost about 120euros/liter (actual treatment,hardener and thinner)

What comes to my mind i have a couple of W22excels and want to try paint them by Nextel and see what happens because at the same time
Nextel is elastic and thick.I know the basics what happen,cone mass increases,sensitivity decreases a little and so on but what it actually does?Try to find out!