Patent ID: 8905291

Claim:
A method of damping vibrations in an article of manufacture, the article being formed of an aluminum or magnesium alloy, the method comprising; identifying a surface area of the article producing or transmitting such vibrations, the vibration-producing or vibration-transmitting area having a length; preparing an added material layer of a metallic composition and a thickness in the range from about 150 micrometers to about one-half millimeter, the layer having a shape for bonding to the surface area of the article, the layer having a first surface for bonding to the surface area of the article, and a second surface; placing the first surface of the layer in surface-to-surface contact with the identified surface area of the article; and applying an ultrasonic welding tool against the second side of the layer and activating the tool to form an ultrasonic weld between one or more selected predetermined regions of the first surface of the layer and the surface of the article, the remaining regions of the welded layer having non-welded surface-to-surface friction damping contact with the surface of the article, the welded regions consisting of a plurality of substantially parallel, spaced-apart strips extending along the length of the surface area, each welded strip being of generally uniform width and each welded strip being spaced-apart from adjacent welded strips by one of a plurality of non-welded regions extending along the surface area length.