Sound Absorption Characterization of Natural Materials and Sandwich Structure Composites
1
School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
2
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Aerospace 2018, 5(3), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace5030075
Received: 19 June 2018 / Revised: 3 July 2018 / Accepted: 5 July 2018 / Published: 11 July 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue ECO-COMPASS: Ecological and Multifunctional Composites for Application in Aircraft Interior and Secondary Structures)
Natural fiber and wood are environmentally friendly materials with multiscale microstructures. The sound absorption performance of flax fiber and its reinforced composite, as well as balsa wood, were evaluated using the two-microphone transfer function technique with an impedance tube system. The microstructures of natural materials were studied through scanning electrical microscope in order to reveal their complex acoustical dissipation mechanisms. The sound absorption coefficients of flax fiber fabric were predicted using a double-porosity model, which showed relatively accurate results. The integrated natural materials sandwich structure was found to provide a superior sound absorption performance compared to the synthetic-materials-based sandwich structure composite due to the contribution of their multiscale structures to sound wave attenuation and energy dissipation. It was concluded that the natural-materials-based sandwich structure has the potential of being used as a sound absorption structure, especially at high frequency.
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Keywords:
plant fiber; balsa; sound absorption; microstructures; sandwich structures
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zhang, J.; Shen, Y.; Jiang, B.; Li, Y. Sound Absorption Characterization of Natural Materials and Sandwich Structure Composites. Aerospace 2018, 5, 75.
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