Sound Absorption in Replicated Aluminum Foam

TL;DR

This paper investigates the sound absorption properties of replicated aluminum foam, aiming to improve its efficiency and understand its acoustic behavior compared to traditional porous materials.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical and experimental analysis of aluminum foam's sound absorption capabilities, highlighting its potential as a cost-effective porous metal for noise reduction.

Findings

Aluminum foam can achieve up to 99.9% sound absorption in a wide frequency range.

The surface reflection of acoustic waves limits the absorption efficiency of aluminum foam.

Theoretical models help explain the viscous dissipation of acoustic energy in porous metals.

Abstract

Sound absorption is an important technological task in machine-building and civil engineering. Porous materials are traditionally used for these purposes, as they are neither ignitable nor hygroscopic and thus suitable for noise oppression, first of all in means of transportation. Absorption of acoustic oscillation energy in porous metals occurs mainly due to viscous friction. A theoretical description of the process of energy viscous dissipation in a porous media on basis of Rayleigh classical model is given in paper [1], whereas the modern level of theory is set forth in Johnson-Champoux-Allard model [2]. Attempts of utilizing aluminum foam as the cheapest porous metal for sound absorption are related to forming of the open porous structure by rolling [3] or by heat treatment [4]. However, the sound absorption ratio of metal foam presented in these papers does not rise over 80%, whereas it reaches 99.9% in a wide frequency range when we take conventional sound-absorption materials (i.e. glass-wool). The problem of foamed metal consists of considerable reflection of acoustic waves from the surface.