Abstract
Unpreferable vibrations and impacts pose substantial risks to sensitive devices, structures, and the human body, demanding materials capable of providing both high energy dissipation and impact protection across a broad temperature range. Traditional damping materials often fail to meet these demands because of a trade-off between damping and mechanical strength. We introduce an innovative strategy to fabricate armored polymer-fluid gels (APFGs) that combine high damping and high modulus for effective damping and impact protection under extreme conditions. By using a controlled surface cross-linking process through diffusion, we greatly enhance the mechanical strength of polymer-fluid gels without sacrificing their damping capabilities. This asymmetric design results in an unprecedented loss factor (tanδ > 0.5 from -45 degrees to 135 degrees Celsius, peaking at tanδ = 2.2) while achieving a tensile modulus of 20 megapascals. This method resolves the long-standing damping-modulus trade-off, positioning APFGs as promising candidates for robust damping and impact protection in electronics and human motion applications.