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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Development of an Experimental Setup for the Measurement of the Coefficient of Restitution under Vacuum Conditions
Published on: March 29, 2016
Coefficient of restitution for viscoelastic spheres: the effect of delayed recovery
Thomas Schwager1, Thorsten Pöschel
1Charité, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
The coefficient of normal restitution of colliding viscoelastic spheres is computed as a function of the material properties and the impact velocity. From simple arguments it becomes clear that, in a collision of purely repulsively interacting particles, the particles lose contact slightly before the distance of the centers of the spheres reaches the sum of the radii, that is, the particles recover their shape only after they lose contact with their collision partner. This effect was neglected in earlier calculations, which leads erroneously to attractive forces and thus to an underestimation of the coefficient of restitution. As a result we find a different dependence of the coefficient of restitution on the impact rate.
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