Sustainable Acoustic Materials

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to report on the latest research and development works carried out in the field of sustainable acoustical materials. Acoustical materials come in a variety of forms to provide sound absorption, insulation and vibration damping. In the last few decades, the use and variety of available materials has increased greatly. Recent advances in material science, manufacturing processes, chemistry, and nanotechnologies are producing significant improvements in the design, production, and performance of specialized materials and metamaterials. More recently, research has been devoted to sustainable acoustical materials, also called eco-materials. These environmentally-friendly materials are manufactured through a responsible interaction with the environment to avoid depletion or degradation of natural resources and allowing for long-term environmental quality. Examples of sustainable materials are those made of either natural or recycled (and recyclable) materials which are an alternative to traditional synthetic materials. Life Cycle Assessment procedures have indicated that the production of these materials provides lower environmental impact than conventional ones.  

Papers related (but not limited) to advances, development, innovation, analysis and/or optimization of sustainable acoustical materials or metamaterials that have been produced for the specific purpose of providing high values of sound absorption, vibration damping, and vibration and/or noise isolation are welcome within this special issue. Papers can be related to fundamental research, and/or applications, related to design, modelling, testing, and/or manufacturing of acoustical materials. Papers related to mixed and composite materials and to systems such as green roofs and green walls are also welcome. Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be selected via a rigorous peer-review procedure.

Prof. Jorge P. Arenas
Prof. Kimihiro Sakagami
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.