A flexible Cartesian manipulator is a coupling system with a moving rigid body and flexible structures. Thus, vibration suppression problem must be solved to guarantee the stability and control accuracy. A characteristic model based nonlinear golden section adaptive control (CMNGSAC) algorithm is implemented to suppress the vibration of a flexible Cartesian smart material manipulator driven by a ballscrew mechanism using an AC servomotor. The system modeling is derived to recognize the dynamical characteristics. The closed loop stability is analyzed based on the model. Also, an experimental setup is constructed to verify the adopted method. Experimental comparison studies are conducted for modal frequencies' identification and active vibration control of the flexible manipulator. The active vibration control experiments include set-point vibration control responses, vibration suppression under resonant excitation and simultaneous translating and vibration suppression using different control methods. The experimental results demonstrate that the controller can suppress both the larger and the lower amplitude vibration near the equilibrium point effectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.