A Brief Review on Sound Absorption Characteristics of Nonwoven Structures

Jagannath Sardar(2008TT8!"#$%epart&ent of Te'ti(e Techno(og)*ndian *nstitute

of Techno(og) %e(hiNew %e(hi !!00!"%ece&ber !!+ 2008
1
Abstract,
For a healthy and a pleasant environment, controlling the sound hazards is an important
issue.It is medical evidence, that the human body will takes sound as pollution if the
ambient soundlevels eceed !"d#. $his sound pollution leads to significant health
problems includinghypertension, dizziness, depression, and most commonly, loss of
hearing %1, &'.(oise control andits principles play an important role in creating an
acoustically pleasing environment. $his can beachieved when the intensity of sound is
brought down to a level that is not harmful to humanears.)arious techni*ues have been
developed by using different materials to make a pleasingenvironment. $he sound
absorbing materials absorbs the sound energy and it converts to thethermal energy
when the sound wave strikes the fibers assembly. $his process is called an
energyconversion process. +any research papers revealed that the fibrous materials
,tetile- have agood affinity to absorb the sound energy %., !, /'. $he porous materials
can reduce the acousticenergy of a sound wave as the wave passes through it by the
phenomenon of absorption.0coustic porous materials can have porosity greater than
123. 4ommon sound absorptivematerials have open cells, which is called pores %5, ",
6'. Foam and fibre assembly likenonwovens are basically known as porous materials
and it has been observed that those materialshave good sound absorption property. In
some cases wood and composite materials are also beused as a sound absorptive and
barrier materials. For porous and fibrous materials, acousticperformance is defined by a
set of eperimentally determined constants namely7 absorptioncoefficient, reflection
coefficient, acoustic impedance, propagation constant, normal reductioncoefficient and
transmission loss. $hese parameters are depends on some factors like fibrediameter,
fiber surface area, thickness, bulk density, porosity, airflow resistivity, tortuosity
andsurface impedance.In this report we have measured the noise absorption coefficient
,(04- and noise reductioncoefficient ,(84- of different nonwovens of polypropylene
fibre in different thickness. It hasbeen found that the needle punched polypropylene has
higher (04 value and it proves that (04value is higher in case of higher thickness %/,
5&, 5"'.In acoustic engineering, the sound absorptive materials have an important role
according to itsapplications, such as aeronautical industry, industrial noise control, room
acoustics andautomotive and acoustics %1!, &1'.
&
!- *ntroduction,
0 sound wave can be defined as the pattern of disturbance caused by the movement of
energytraveling through a medium ,such as air, water, or any other li*uid or solid
matter- as itpropagates away from the source of the sound.$he vibration can be
described as some ob9ect that causes disturbs the particles in thesurrounding medium:
those particles disturb those net to them, and so on. ;ound travels throughthe air
,gas-, water ,li*uid- or brick ,solid-, as a pressurized longitudinal wave. In a
longitudinalwave the particle displacement is parallel to the direction of wave
propagation. 0nd transversewave the particle displacement is perpendicular to the
direction of wave propagation %1'.$he compressing and epanding of the air produces
differences in air pressure. $he pressuredifferences in the air move away from the drum
surface like ripples in a pond, creating a soundwave. $his is how the drum produces a
sound that we can hear.$o generate sound, it is necessary to have a vibrating source,
such as the tuning fork shown here.<hen the source vibrates, it displaces ad9acent
particles and molecules in the medium, causingthem to vibrate back and forth as well.
$heir vibrations cause more distant particles to vibrate,and so on. $he audible sound
that we hear is made up of tiny vibrations of air molecules, whichare transmitted to our
ears. $his transmission of vibrations, starting from the source andcontinuing from one
molecule to the net, is how sound travels through a medium %12'.;ound intensity is
defined as the sound power per unit area. $he usual contet is themeasurement of
sound intensity in the air at a listener=s location. $he basic units are watts>m
&
orwatts>cm
&
. +any sound intensity measurements are made relative to a standard threshold of
hearing intensity I
2
%11'
;ound Intensity ?evel ,d#- can be epressed by the intensity, since intensity is nothing
but theenergy. It is epressed by %1&'<hen this level eceeds the limit !" d# then it@s
called (oise or ;ound Aazards %1, &'.$he final epression for the acoustic intensity
becomes %1.',-.,Bnergy,B-0rea,a-Cower,C-I-Intensity,
t atime 0rea
DD
-log,12
2
I I
D
E
.where p D p
rms
. <e will show that this same epression also applies for a spherical sound waveand for
a nonFspherical sound wave. $he human ear can detect a wide range of sound
intensities.$he decibel scale ,d#- is commonly used to deal with the wide range in
pressure, intensity,power, and energy that are encountered in acoustics. ?evels in
decibels are defined using thepreferred ;I reference *uantities for acoustics in $able
1.1 ,I;G 1!/.-: these reference *uantitiesare used for all figures in the book %15'. $able
1.1 ;ound H definitions of levels in decibels;ound hazard system can be divided into
three elements %1., 1"', such as1. (oise ;ource7 $he element which vibrates in a
particular fre*uency and make noise hazardsin the air.&. (oise Cath7 $he medium
through which the acoustical energypropagates from one point to another and.. (oise
8eceiver7 $he person who could potentially complain about the*uantity or level of noise
as perceived at same point(oise control and its principles play an important role in
creating an acoustically pleasingenvironment. $his can be achieved when the intensity
of sound is brought down to a level that isnot harmful to human health %.2'. It is medical
evidence, that the human body will takes soundas pollution if the ambient sound levels
eceed !"d#. $his sound pollution leads to significant
health problems including hypertension, dizziness, depression, and most commonly,
loss of hearing %1, &'. From the early 12 decades, lots of considerable research and
developments havebeen done for dampening the sound intensity levels to control sound
pollution. 0 variousapplication area of the noise reduction techni*ues%1!, 16, ", 1/, /'
are as 0eronauticalBngineering, interiors of cars and public transport, hospital rooms,
auditoriums, and laboratoriesetc. +ultiFlayered panels are widely used in aircraft,
automotive and building industries. $hesound transmission loss ,$?- provided by the
panels is an important factor in evaluating theacoustical performance of such panels
%11'.It is obvious that various techni*ues used to reduce the noise levels using different
soundabsorbing materials %&2, &1'. Gne reliable techni*ue is to absorb the sound
energy and convertsto thermal energy.Iifferent fibrous material such as different
nonwoven tetiles, porous foam, composite or othermaterials are etensively used for
the same aspects.+any literatures reveals that nonwoven porous materials have a high
impact characteristic toabsorb the sound energy%., &5, &", &!', hence, nonwovens have
fibrous *uantity and air. Iue tothis combination, nonwovens absorb the sound energy
and convert it to heat by the mechanismof thermodynamics and aerodynamics principle
%!, &&, &.'.
2- .ateria(s for sound absorption,
;ound absorptive materials can be classified into three categories such as absorptive
materials,#arrier materials and damping material. %&6'. $hese sound absorptive
materials can be includedrugs, carpet with felt pads, heavy drapes etc. %&/' $he sound
wave passes through the porous andfibrous structural materials which transfer the
aerodynamics energy to thermodynamics by thephenomenon of absorption %&6'. $hese
materials are mostly used to control the acousticenvironment by dampening the sound
energy of the resultant waves which is called reflectivewave. If the incident wave is a
plane wave, and the structural properties of the slab do not changein the direction of
wave propagation, the transmitted wave will also be a plane wave traveling inthe same
direction as the incident wave %6'. 0bsorptive materials are generally resistive innature,
either fibrous, porous or in rather special cases reactive resonators %&6'. 4lassic
eamplesof resistive material are nonwovens, fibrous glass, mineral wools, felt and
foams. Corousmaterials used for noise control are generally categorized as fibrous
medium or porous foam.
"Fibrous media usually consists of rock wool or glass, polyester fibers and have
high acousticabsorption. ;ometimes fire resistant fibers are also used in making
acoustical products %&1, .2'.Jannan 0llampalayam Kayaraman %.2' obtained his ms
research preparing the nonwovensamples, in needle punched and thermally bonded
process, using kenaf fibre and CB$ in differentblend percentage. Ae eplained and
shows that the materials which he has used are efficient fornoise absorption.Gften
sound barriers are confused with sound absorbing materials. Lenerally materials
thatprovide good absorption are poor barriers. J.G.#allagh %/' eplained that the
acousticalproperties, i.e. #arriers and damping of the materials, the mass of the
material, do not dependstrongly on the flow resistivity, and so, provided that it is within
M&23 of the desired value, theacoustical properties should be maintained.no direct
effect on the performance of the absorptivematerials %/'. ;ome of the acoustical fibric
which are available in the market, has shown bellow%fig. &.1,a-, &.1,b-'.,a- ,b-Figure &.1
,a- 4rossCointN 0coustical <all Fabric and b- Bco;orptN 8ecycled 4otton
Canels+ichael 4oates and +arek Jierzkowsld %.1' eplained that, bulk porous
absorbers, such asfiberglass or mineral wool batts or blankets, and needle punched,
resin or thermally bondedfibrous tetiles, are well known and all *ualify as rigid porous
absorbers. Flow resistive screenscan provide similar performance to the highFloft
materials, without the bulk. $hin lightweightacoustic tetiles, such as I(4 Bngineered
+aterials IeciF$e range, act as fleible porousscreens. $hey also said, for porous
fibrous sound absorbers, it has been demonstrated that theflow resistance is a function
of density. Fibre packing density decreases the air permeability,with a resultant increase
in pressure drop and hence flow resistance. For increased soundabsorption at a given
thickness, a higherFdensity fibrous material is used. %.1'
!0n absorber, when backed by a barrier, reduces the energy in a sound wave by
converting themechanical motion of the air particles into low grade heat. $his action
prevents a buildup of sound in enclosed spaces and reduces the strength of reflected
noise %&6'.Iavid Frankovich %.&' has shown that the porous nature of absorptive
materials renders themsusceptible to contamination, moisture retention and
deterioration due to physical abuse. $oavoid these problems, facings may be attached
to at least one side of the absorber.Figure &.& Cerformance of )arious 1Finch 0coustical
Foams with ;urface $reatments$he addition of a facing to acoustical foam has the
effect of increasing the lower fre*uencyabsorption at the epense of the higher
fre*uencies %.&'. ?ater on we will discus regarding theperformance of absorptive
materials which depends on some parameters of the used samples.
/- *nf(uence of different factors for Sound absorption characteristics of fibrous
&ateria(s,
+any literatures have revealed that how the different factors influenced to the
characteristics of sound absorption of the fibrous assembly %.., ., /, !, .5'. 0 porous
material with a nonFporousbarrier bonded to the face of the material carries the sound
energy in the form of the structureFborne wave. $he factors that have a strong influence
on the structureFborne wave are the bulk stiffness and the structural loss factor. For
most porous materials, noise absorption coefficientgenerally depends on such three
factors as7 flow resistance, porosity, morphology of pores, etc.%."'. ;ummary from some
literatures are cited below.
/-!- 0ibre dia&eter,
Ooung Koo (a, Keff ?ancaster, Kohn 4asali and Lilsoo 4ho %.!' has eplained that the
microfiberfabric has fine fibres and a high surface area and it has been used in such
applications as wipers,thermal insulator, filters or breathable layers. It can be also used
for sound absorption. $hey havetaken five microfibre fabrics of polyester and nylon in
different blend percentage and one regularfibre fabric of 1223 polyester for the
reverberation room method. $he results showed that themicroFfibre fabrics@ sound
absorption is superior to that of conventional fabric with the samethickness or weight,
and the microFfibre fabrics@ structure was found to be important forcontrolling sound
absorption according to sound fre*uency. In the given table ,..1- shows the(84,(oise
8eduction 4oefficient- changes with fre*uency.$able ..1 ;ound absorption coefficients
of microFfiber fabrics and fleece.From the table we can see that the (84 is higher in
case of microfibre fabrics than the regularfabric ,fleece fabric-.Oouneung ?ee and
4hangwhan Koo %..' eplained that the (04 of the sample is proportional tothe in the
fine fibre contents upto a certain fre*uency range%.6'. Increasing the fre*uency
beyond1"22 Az, (04 curve shows no clear tendency with fine fibre content. Oouneung
?ee et al. haveused . different parametric recyled polyester fibres like 1.&, &, 6 denier
and ./mm length and forbond purpose ! denier, 5& mm low melting polyester fibre in
different percentage.
/Figure ..1 Bffect of fine fibre contents on sound absorption propertiesJ. 0.
Kayaraman %.2' has observed that the finer size CB$ absorbs more sound than other
fibers.$his is because finer linear density allows more fibers per volume ,fig. ..1, fig.
..&-, morecontact area and more tortuous channels allowing more absorption. +oreover
fine fibers moverelatively more easily than coarser fibers which causes finer fibers to
convert acoustic energyinto heat more easily than coarser fibers.Figure ..& ;ound
absorption of fabric made from1223 CB$ fibers of varying cross sectionsFrom the
above fundamentals, fine denier fibres have better sound absorbing properties
thancoarse denier fibers. ;uper fine fibres have good sound absorption characteristics
%/'. 0bsorptionof the energy of plane acoustic waves is different in the low and high
fre*uency bands %./'.
/-2 0iber surface area,
Gne of the important factor which influence the sound absorption characteristics of the
materialsis fibre surface area. +ore finer fibres means more surface area.$he relation
between the total surface area ; ,cm&- of fibers constituting a fiber assembly of porosity
C
e
,3- and $ ,cm- is shown as follows7; D a $
b
12
5
where a and b are constants and $ is the thickness. 0 fiber assembly which meets this
e*uationhas the maimum sound absorption coefficient at a certain fre*uency, if it has
no back air spaceor at an optional fre*uency if it has a back air space suited to the
fre*uency %.1'. If samples areuniform in thickness, the total surface area of fiber at C
e
is constant, irrespective of the finenessof fibers. $his means that the relation between
the fineness of fibers d ,denier- and C
e
,3- for asample of uniform thickness is shown thus,,122FC
e
- d
F1>&
D constantC
e
for a sample made up of fibers of differing in denier is easily calculable by using
thise*uation. In a porosity range higher than C
e
, the maimum absorption coefficients of samplescomposed of fibers differing in
fineness but arranged to be the same in total surface area do notagree completely
%.1'.Jyoichi et al. and (arang et al. %52, 51' indicated a direct correlation between
sound absorptionand fiber surface area. $heir study eplained the fact that friction
between fibers and airincreases with fiber surface area resulting in a higher sound
absorption. Jyoichi et al. observedthat the sound absorption coefficient rises as the fibre
surface area of the soundFabsorbingmaterials increases ,fig. ...,a- P fig. ...,b--.
12,a- ,b-Figure ... ,a- ;ound absorption comparison for various fibres with fre*uency.,b-
surface area for various fibreFbased soundFabsorbing materials.$his can be eplained
by the fact that friction between the fibres and the air increases with alarger fibre
surface area, resulting in a higher sound absorption coefficient. +oreover it has
beensaid that, in the fre*uency range 11&" Az H "222 Az, fibers with serrated cross
sections absorbmore sound compared to ones with round cross sectional area.$he
fabric weight would then become less important than fabric thickness as fabric lightness
canbe achieved by using a microFfiber fabric, which has less weight due to its large
surface area.$herefore these possibilities of microFfiber fabrics were tested for their
application as soundFabsorbing materials. 0s a result, microFfiber fabrics ,ecept those
with a mesh structure-absorbed all sound fre*uencies better than a conventional fabric,
and also better than the datafrom other studies of absorbing materials. +icroFfiber
fabrics absorb sound better because theirfibers have a higher surface area than those
of regular fiber fabrics, resulting in higher flowresistance %.!'.
/-/ Thic1ness,
+any literature have cited that sound absorption in porous materials have concluded
that lowfre*uency sound absorption has direct relationship with thickness. $he
effectiveness of absorption is directly related to the thickness of the material %.&':
absorbers are most effectivewhen their thickness is between oneFfourth and oneFhalf
the wavelength of the sound, with themaimum performance where the thickness is
oneFfourth the wavelength %"'. +asatakaAakamada et al. %5&' shows that the sound
absorption coefficient increased with increasing
specimen thickness at all fre*uencies ,fig. ..5 a-. (ot only that, the air gap, from
specimen to therigid wall, has an importance to sound absorption too ,fig. ... b-.Fig. ..5
,a- Bffect of specimen thickness on sound absorption coefficient,b- Bffect of airFgap
interval on the sound absorption coefficient %5&'0 study by +.0. Ibrahim et al %5.'
showed the increase of sound absorption only at lowfre*uencies, as the material gets
thicker. Aowever, at higher fre*uencies thickness hasinsignificant effect on sound
absorption. <hen there is air space inside and behind the material,the maimum value
of the sound absorption coefficient moves from the high to the lowfre*uency range %5&'.
0nother work has done by Jazuhiko Josuge et al %55'. $hey also showsfor the lower
fre*uency of the normal incidence wave, sound absorption increased by increasingthe
thickness of the nonwoven ,fig. .."-.Figure .." (onwoven thicknesses vs. normal
incidence sound absorption
1&
/-2 Bu(1 densit),
(umerous works has been done to study the influence of the bulk density on the sound
absorbingproperties of fibrous materials. J.G.#allagh %/' has shown the effect on (04
is *uite significantfor bulk density, thickness and flow resistivity in the fre*uency range
of "22 F &222Az for &"mm thickness and &"2F1222Az for 122 mm thickness. Ae
eplains that within the fre*uencyrange of "22F&222Az, the (04 is proportionally higher
with the higher bulk density, thicknessand higher flow resistivity ,fig. ..!-.Figure ..!
absorption coefficients showing the effect of density and flow resistivity.$here is a close
relationship between flow resistivity %5", "', density and fibre diameter. It can beseen
that the flow resistivity generally increases with increasing density %5!'. 0dditional
testshave done on a single sample with a particular fibre diameter which was
compressed to variousdegrees, and the flow resistivity can be measured over a range
of different.J.G.#allagh %/' eplained that the flow resistivity is inversely proportional to
the fibre diameterand proportional to the density of the sample.Bnergy loss increases as
the surface friction increases, thus the sound absorption coefficientincreases.
/-# 3orosit),
Corosity is relatively important factors which prominently influenced to the ;ound
absorptioncharacteristics of porous materials %56'. $he fig. ..! shows the influence of porosity
along withthe bulk density on sound absorption coefficient of the porous materials.
1.Figure ..! ;ound absorption characteristics of &." cm thick sampleI
a
7 Gbserved apparent density and C7 Corosity0lready we have seen that many factors
have the influence to sound absorption properties of theporous materials. Gne of the
important factor is porosity. $o allow sound dissipation by friction,the sound wave has to
enter the porous material. $his means, there should be enough pores onthe surface of
the material for the sound to pass through and get dampened. $he porosity of aporous
material is defined as the ratio of the volume of the air in the material to its total
volume.Iefinition of the porosity ,
Q
- %5/, 51', we can write as,
Q
D 1F

D
t a
vv
where,

is the fibre volume fraction and v

a
and v
t
are the volume of the air ,void volume- andtotal volume of the sample respectively.0
porous material such as nonwovens with an open face carries most of the sound energy
in theform of the airborne wave. $he eception is a porous material that has a structural
stiffness lessthan that of air. In this case, the material behaves as a fluid. In either case,
the sound energy canbe thought of as being carried by the airborne wave. $here are
several factors that have a stronginfluence on the airborne wave, but usually the most
important influence is due to the flowresistivity of the material. +ost of the materials
tested in this study were porous materials withan open or scrim covered face, so the
airborne wave is dominant %"'.;hoshani et al. %"2' considered that, four functional forms
of the porosity7 linear, *uadratic,eponential and logarithmic. Ae assume that, layer can
be approimately thought of as acombination of several thin layers: each of which
having a constant porosity. $herefore, it seems
15to us that our generalized theory can be used as a tool for assessing the noise
absorption capacityof multilayer nonwoven structure.0ccording to the functional form of
porosity, they reveals numerical configuration as,a-
?inear7b-
Ruadratic7c- Bponential7andc-
?ogarithmic7<here, each of these forms depends on two parameters C
1
and C
&
satisfying 2S C
1
, C
&
S1:
Q
represents the thickness of the web. $hese functions can be increasing or decreasing
withrespect to , depending on the choice of the parameters C
1
and C
&
,C
1
, C
&
the best fit parameters.-
/-" Airf(ow resistivit),
0irflow resistivity is most important factor to characterize the sound absorption
properties of thefibrous materials. 0 number of researchers have shown the influence of
airflow resistivity tosound absorption behaviour of tetile materials.$he air flow
resustance 8 ,pascal.s>m
.
- is defined as,
8 D
4
p>*
v
<here
4
p is the air pressure difference across a layer of porous material: with respect to
theatmosphere ,Ca-, and *
v
is the volumetric airflow rate passing through the layer ,m
>s
-.$he volumetric airflow rate is
*
v
D u.;.
1"where u is the linear airflow velocity ,m>s- and ; is the cross sectional area of the
porousmaterials perpendicular to the direction of air flow ,m
&
-.(ow specific airflow resistance 8
s
,Ca.s>m- applies to a specific thickness of a porous material:hence it is an appropriate
specification parameter for both homogeneous and non homogeneousmaterials as well
as materials with a porous surface coating or perforated surface layer.
8
s
D 8.;
$he airflow resistivity, r ,pa.s>m
&
- is the specific airflow resistance per unit thickness, and is onlyappropriate as a
specification parameter for homogeneous materials.
8 D ;.
4
p>d*
v
D 8.;>dD 8
s
>d
<here d is the thickness of the layer of porous materials in the direction of airflow ,m-
%15'
/-"-! 0(ow Resistance .easure&ent 4nit,
$he schematic diagram of the setFup for flow resistance measurements of tetile
materials isshown in Figure ..6. $he setFup comprises two circular columns "2 mm in
diameter andapproimately "2 cm long ,made of acrylic material-, between which the
tetile sample is fiedduring eperiments. 0 thin rubber gasket is placed on the tetile to
avoid leakage. 0 "2 ? plastictank is used as water reservoir, and an IwakiF+I! pump
,maimum output ./ Tminute- is usedto circulate water in the flow loop. $he flow
through the column ,and hence through the tetile-is measured with help of two LF
rotameters ,one with a range of "F"2 ?>hour and the other .2F.22 ?>hour-. $he pressure
difference across the tetile sample is measured with a Aoneywell;$IF1&2 differential
pressure indicator
%6'. In the fig. ..6, a schematic diagram has been shownfor measuring the airflow
resistivity of the materials.
1!Figure ..6 ;chematic diagram of the eperimental setFup for how
resistancemeasurements7 ,1- detachable columns to hold the tetik. ,&- tetile sample.
,.- pressuretransmitter with air locks. ,5- rotameters, ,"- pump. ,!- water reservoir. ,6-
.Fwaiy valve forcollecting samples for the analysis.Gne of the most important factor that
influence the sound absorbing characteristics of anonwoven material is the specific flow
resistance per unit thickness of the material. $hecharacteristic impedance and
propagation constant, which describes the acoustical properties of porous materials, are
governed to a great etent by flow resistance of the material %"1, "' (ow, acoustical
properties are a function of both the density and the fibre diameter of thesample. 0
more useful parameter for comparing different samples is the flow resistivity,
sincedifferent samples with the same flow resistivity ,but different combinations of
density and fibrediameter- have similar acoustical properties. 0t higher values of airflow
resistivity, there is someimprovement in lowFfre*uency performance but at the epense
of a reduction in highFfre*uencyabsorption.J. G. #allagh %/' has shown that, there is a
close relationship between flow resistivity, densityand fibre diameter. $he flow resistivity
has been plotted in fig. ../ acording to the density,kg>m
.
- )s. Flow resistivity ,8ayls>m- , for the range of samples measured. It can be seen
thatthe flow resistivity generally increases with increasing density, although there is a
reasonabledegree of scatter.
16Figure ../
8elationship between flow resistivity and density for all samples.Fibers interlocking in
nonwovens are the frictional elements that provide resistance toacoustic wave motion.
In general, when sound enters these materials, its amplitude is decreasedby friction as
the waves try to move through the tortuous passages. $hus the acoustic energy
isconverted into heat %"&'. $his friction *uantity which can be epressed by resistance of
thematerial to airflow is called airflow resistance and is defined in e*uation as7where7 81
D ;pecific flow resistance, mks 8ayls>m
u
D Carticle velocity through sample, m>sec
4
p
D ;ound pressure differential across the thickness of the samplemeasured in direction
of particle velocity, newtons>m&
4
$
D Incremental thickness
/-5 Tortuosit),
$he most simple mathematic method to estimate tortuosity is arcFchord ratio7 ratio of the
lengthof the curve ,
?
- to the distance between the ends of it ,
4
-%".'7
4
D ?>40rcFchord ratio e*uals 1 for a straight line and is infinite for a circle.
1/Catasius, +. et al. %"5' has given a generalized formula to measure tortuosity by an
integral of s*uare of derivative of curvature, divided by the length of a curve<here k@ is
the derivatives of the curvature with respect to time.$ortuosity is a measure of the
elongation of the passage way through the pores, compared to thethickness of the
sample. 0ccording to Jnapen et al. %""', tortuosity describes the influence of theinternal
structure of a material on its acoustical properties. 4on <assilieff %"!'
describestortuosity as a measure of how far the pores deviate from the normal, or
meander about thematerial. It was stated that, J. ). Aoroshenkov et al. %"6' that,
tortuosity mainly affects thelocation of the *uarterFwavelength peaks, whereas porosity
and flow resistivity affect the heightand width of the peaks. It has also been said by the
value of tortuosity determines the highfre*uency behavior of sound absorbing porous
materials.0s the porous layer has an initial thickness d
2
%"/', the porous layer undergoes a compression,the thickness decreases to d
n
, which is the soFcalled final thickness. $he compression rate n isdefined as the ratio of
initial thickness to the final thickness after compression. <ave numbersare related to
the parameters, tortuosity, characteristic length, flow resistivity, porosity anddensity.
4ompressing the material affects these parameters. ;o compression is an
anotherimportant factor. $he new porosity, the flow resistivity, the tortuosity, the viscous
characteristiclength and the thermal characteristic length caused by the compression,
#ernard 4astagnede et alhas shown the epression of tortusity as,<here n
n
d d
2
D
,fig. ..1-
11Figure ..1 $he illustration of compression rate.0long with tortuosity, the inner
structure of porous materials has been described by the termUstructure factor@has given
the approimate relation between porosity ,

- and structure factor ,

J
-for homogenous materials made of fibers or granules with interconnecting pores. In the
table%""' shows how the tortuosity varied with some factors.$able ..1 Corosity, flow
resistivity and tortuosity
/-8 Surface i&pedance,
$he effect that a surface has on an acoustic wave can be characterized by four
interrelatedacoustic *uantities %"1'7 the impedance ,z-, admittance ,
O
D1>z-, the pressure reflection factor ,8-and the absorption coefficient ,

-. $he first three ,impedance, admittance and pressure reflectionfactor- give information
about both the magnitude and phase change on reflection. $he
&2absorption coefficient does not contain phase data, but only gives information about
the energychange on reflection.$he pressure reflection coefficient, 8, gives the ratio of
the reflected and incident pressure, i.e7$he pressure reflection coefficient therefore
includes both magnitude and phase informationabout the reflection of sound. ,$here is
also an intensity reflection coefficient, but this is not usedhere-. $he relationships
between pressure reflection coefficient and impedance for obli*ueincidence is7where,
.
is the angle of incidence and

is the density of the medium and c the speed of sound inthe acoustic medium. $he ratio
of pressure to velocity gives the characteristic specific acousticimpedance of the
medium, z
c
, and z
1
is the surface impedance.0s the time response of the surface impedance is a sum of
eponential functions, a recursiveimplementation is possible. $he infinite sum of
eponentials in the time domain has to bereduced to a finite number of terms. 0s a
conse*uence, this approimation of the impedanceleads to a fre*uencyFdependent
error%!2'.$he higher the acoustic resistivity of a material, the higher is its dissipation, for
a given layer of thickness. 0t the same time the surface impedance of the layer also
increases with resistivity,resulting in a greater amount of reflections on the surface
layer, giving a lower absorptivitycapability. +oreover the whole process is fre*uency
dependent, so that for lower fre*uencybands the necessary layer thickness increases
as resistivity decreases %"'.$he surface impedance seen %!1' by a plane wave normally
incident on a conductor is the same
&1as that seen by a wave traveling parallel to the conductor, as in a transmission line.
For simplicityin the present discussion, we consider eperiments in which a plane wave
is normally incident onthe surface of the conductor or model under test ,fig. ..12-.Figure
..12 +odel diagram for surface impedance$he surface impedance is often split into the
real term ,resistance- and imaginary term,reactance-. In general, the real term of
surface impedance is associated with energy losses, andthe imaginary term with phase
changes. ;o a simple inspection of the surface acoustic impedancecan give more
insight into the absorbing properties of a material than the absorption
coefficient.8emembering that the absorption coefficient,

, is a ratio of the absorbed and incident energyenables the following epression to be

derived7$he normal acoustic surface impedance, V
a,n
, is defined as the ratio of the comple soundpressure at a surface, to the component of
the comple sound particle velocity that is normal tothis surface %15',0lthough we are
mainly interested in plates ,representing walls or floors- that form the roomboundaries,
the above definition applies to any surface, including sheets of porous materialssuch as
mineral wool or foam.$he specific acoustic impedance, V
a,s
, is defined using the characteristic impedance of air,
&&0ccording to Frank Fahy, %!&' normalized surface impedance ,
V
- can be calculated using thee*uation,where7

D 0ir density ,kg>m.-

c
D ;ound velocity in air ,ms
F1
-J. 0. Kayaraman %.2' has found out that the surface impedance increasing with
increasing thesample thickness. (04 is increasing with increasing the surface
impedance upto ."22Az.
2- The sound absorption spectru&,
Vhang Win@an %!.' and O.;haoshani %!5' has given a simple e*uation for calculating the
;ound0bsorption 4oefficient ,;04- for the fibrous materials.Ae eplain that, it is known
that there are maimum ;04 at
I
D n

> 5 ,nD1, ., "X.- andminimum ;04 at
I
D n

>&. $his is also the characters of stand wave in the tube. ;o, it isreasonable to assume
that the ;04 of material in the stand wave tube is positive proportion withthe wave
amplitude. $hat means high wave amplitude will cause high ;04 and lower
waveamplitude will cause lower ;04. ?et y denote the wave amplitude, then<here,
O
is the maimum amplitude,
z
is the angular fre*uency, let

D 2 and 0 D JOthen,,

is the ;04-For
z
D &

f, Dc>, ,, c, denote fre*uency, sound speed and wave length respectively-$hen,?et the
back wall of the tube be the zero point, so,
&.$his is the formula of sound absorption spectrum for fibrous material.Vhang Win@an
%!.' also eplained that the increase of the wave amplitude of sound source willnot
cause the change of ;04 tested. $he reason is that the higher wave amplitude of
soundsource will cause the increase of both the maimum pressure C
1
and the minimum pressure C
&
instand wave tube, but the value of ;04 is determined by C
&
>C
1
.
#- .echanis& of Sound Absorption in 0ibrous .ateria(s,
+any scientists have eplained the dissipation mechanism of sound absorption results
from theacoustic energy to heat %5", !"'.0ccording to 8andall F. #arron %1.', the
attenuation or dissipation of acoustic energy as a soundwave moves through a medium
may be attributed to three basic mechanisms7,a- )iscous effects ,dissipation of acoustic
energy due to fluid friction-, which result inthermodynamically irreversible propagation of
sound,,b- Aeat conduction effects ,heat transfer between highF and low temperature
regions in thewave-, which result in nonFadiabatic propagation of the sound and,c-
Internal molecular energy interchanges ,molecular energy relaation effects-, which
result ina time lag between changes in translational kinetic energy and the energy
associated withrotation and vibration of the molecules.$he attenuation due to the sum of
the first two mechanisms, viscous and heat conduction iscalled the classical
attenuation.+assimo Larai P Francesco Compoli %5!' have eplained, the
microstructural models provide adeep physical insight of sound energy dissipation
mechanisms into the porous materials. ;oundabsorption mechanism is depends on
some parameters, such as, number, size of pores,morphology of the pores and fibre
thermal conductivity %."'.<ith internal losses the sound energy is converted into heat
%15'. Aence high internal loss factorsare beneficial for the noise control engineer who is
trying to reduce sound levels. Internal lossesoccur when the sound wave hits absorptive
surfaces or ob9ects ,e.g. sound absorbent ceiling tiles,carpet, porous materials- and as
the wave travels through the air due to air absorption. $he
&5former is usually more important than the latter because air absorption only
becomes significantat high fre*uencies and in large rooms.$emperature variations
associated with the passage of an acoustic disturbance through a gas netto a solid
boundary, which is characterized by a very much greater thermal capacity, willlikewise
give rise to a thermal wave propagating into the boundary: but again, as with the
shearwave, the thermal wave will be confined to a very thin thermal boundary layer of
the same orderof size as the viscous boundary layer. ;uch viscous and thermal effects,
generally referred to asthe acoustic boundary layer, are usually negligible for energy
transport, and are generallyneglected, ecept in the analysis of sound propagation in
tubes and porous media, where theyprovide the energy dissipation mechanisms
%!!'.0ccording to 8andall F. #arron, %1.' the mechanism for absorption of acoustic
energy for theporous materials is the fluid frictional energy dissipation between the air
and the solid fibers. 0thigh fre*uencies, the energy dissipation is larger because the
particle velocity is larger than atlow fre*uencies. $he epansion and contraction of the
air within the irregular spaces of thematerial also result in momentum losses for the
air.Figure 5.1 ;urface absorption coefficient

for a porous feltFlike material.$he results are illustrated in Fig. 5.1 that the absorption
coefficients are larger for the thickermaterial, which has more surface area for energy
dissipation.0ccording to +alcolm K. 4rocker et al. %!6', have described the mechanism
of sound absorptionhappen by three ways,
&"1- 0 change in the flow direction of sound waves, together with epansion and
contractionphenomenon of flow through irregular pores, results in a loss of
momentum&- 0ir molecules oscillate in the interstices of the porous material with the
fre*uency of theeciting sound wave, results into frictional losses and.- 0ir molecules in
the pores undergo periodic compression and relaation which results inchange of
temperature. $hey have shown,,a- ,b-Fig. 5.& a- ;ound propagation through porous
sample and b- )iscous losses in air channels andmechanical friction due to fiber
rubbing$he mechanism of sound dissipation as7 when sound enters porous materials,
owing to soundpressure, air molecules oscillate in the interstices of the porous material
with the fre*uency of theeciting sound wave. $his oscillation results in frictional losses.
0 change in the flow directionof sound waves, together with epansion and contraction
phenomenon of flow through irregularpores, results in a loss of momentum. Gwing to
eciting of sound, air molecules in the poresundergo periodic compression and
relaation. $his results in change of temperature. #ecause of long time, large surface to
volume ratios and high heat conductivity of fibers, heat echangetakes place
isothermally at low fre*uencies. 0t the same time in the high fre*uency
regioncompression takes place adiabatically. In the fre*uency region between these
isothermal andadiabatic compression, the heat echange results in loss of sound
energy. $his loss is high infibrous materials if the sound propagates parallel to the plane
of fibers and may account up to523 sound attenuation %.2'.
&!I. 0. #ies et al. %!!' has also eplained that, any propagating sound wave has both
potential andkinetic energy associated with it. $he total energy ,kinetic M potential-
present in a unit volumeof fluid is referred to as the energy density. Bnergy density is of
interest because it is used as the*uantity that is minimized in active noise cancellation
systems for reducing noise in enclosedspaces. $he kinetic energy per unit volume is
given by the standard epression for the kineticenergy of a moving mass divided by the
volume occupied by the mass.J. 0. Kayaraman %.2' has mentioned in his +; thesis
that, Fine fibre has high affinity to absorbsound energy. $his is because finer linear
density allows more fibers per volume, more contactarea and more tortuous channels
allowing more absorption. +oreover fine fibers move relativelymore easily than coarser
fibers which causes finer fibers to convert more acoustic energy intoheat easily than
coarser fibers.
"- .easure&ent of sound absorption coefficient,
+any scientists have characterized the sound absorption property of the tetile
materials usingdifferent techni*ues. Lenerally, tetile materials can be characterized by
measuring someproperties as, sound absorption coefficient ,

-, reflection coefficient ,8-, or surface impedance,V-.+assimo Larai %!/' has mentioned

the
+easurement techni*ues used to characterize the soundabsorptive properties of a
material are7
+
Impedance $ube +ethods,
+
;teady ;tate +ethods and
+
8everberant Field +ethodsOakir V. ;hoshani %.' has used the impedance tube
techni*ue to measure the noise absorptioncoefficient of the tetile materials.$he setFup
,manufactured by #rYel and J9aer 4ompany of Ienmark- %6!' consists of acylindrical
steel tube. $he sample is fastened to the tube@s left wall, and a loudspeaker that
canemit sound waves of well defined fre*uencies is attached to its right wall. $he nodes
andantinodes of the standing waves formed by the interference between the waves
emitted by theloudspeaker and those reflected from the sample are detected by a small
microphone that canslide along the ais of the tube. $he diameter of the tube I is
smaller than the wavelength of the
&6emitted sound wave ,typically I D 12 cm for f S /22 Az and I D . cm for f Z /22
Az- so thatthis wave can be thought of as a plane wave propagating along the ais of
the tube. $he normalincidence (04 of the specimen, designated by

, is defined bywhere Io and I, areFthe energy flu of the incident and reflected waves,
respectively. If C
min
. isthe minimal sound pressure level in the tube and C
ma
is its maimal value, a is given bywhere n is the ratio between maimum pressure leve
to minimum ,C
ma
>C
min
-$he amplitude or loudness of a sound wave is epressed by its sound pressure level.
;oundshaving the same wavelength ,e*ual fre*uency- may have differing loudness
because the soundpressure of a sound wave may vary over a wide range[a change in
magnitude of ten million toone[sound pressure is epressed using a logarithmic scale.
$his is the basis of the decibel scale,which compresses the range of sound pressure
into a scale from 2 to 1"2. $he decibel ,d#- isnot an actual measure of amplitude or
loudness, but epresses the ratio between a given soundpressure and a reference
sound pressure. $his relationship is epressed by the followinge*uation7,?
p
- D 12 log ,C>C
re
-
&
where, ?
p
is the ;ound Cressure ?evel, C is the ;ound Cressure ,Ca-, C
re
is the sound pressure atthe threshold of hearing ,2.2222& Ca- %!1'.
&/
"-!- .ethods for acoustic &easure&ents,
*&pedance tube &ethod
uses plane sound waves that strike the material straight and so thesound absorption
coefficient is called normal incidence sound absorption coefficient, (04 ,fig.!.1- %62'.
Figure !.1 Impedance $ube for ;ound 0bsorption$he impedance tube consists of a
speaker, tube, two microphones and material sample holder. 0special sound called
white noise is generated in the speaker. $he white noise is composed of sound
contributions from all fre*uency bands in the audible range. $he sound travels
straightdown the tube and strikes the material. ;ome of the sound is absorbed and
some is reflectedback. $he two microphones measure the reflected sound. From the
two microphone=s signals, thesound absorption can be calculated %62'.
In an I$+ ,Impedance $ube +ethod- measurement ,fig.!.&-, the acoustic waves are
confined within the impedance tube, which is typically a fewcentimeters in diameter, and
the size of the materials sample need only be large enough to fill thecrossFsection of the
tube.%61'.
&1Figure !.&
;chematic ;ketch of an Impedance $ube ;etFTp %.2'
$hus this method avoids the need to fabricate large test sample with lateral dimensions
severaltimes the acoustical wavelength. $he impedance tube method employs two
techni*ues todetermine (04, namely71. +ovable microphone which is oneFthird octave
fre*uencies techni*ue ,0;$+ 4 ./5- isbased on the standing wave ratio principle and
uses an audio fre*uency spectrometer to measurethe absorption coefficients at various
centre fre*uencies of the oneFthird octave bands.&. $woFfied microphone impedance
tube or transfer function method ,0;$+ B 12"2-, which isrelatively recent development.
In this techni*ue, a broadband random signal is used as a soundsource. $he normal
incidence absorption coefficients and the impedance ratios of the testmaterials can be
measured much faster and easier compared with the first techni*ue %6&'. $hefinal
method of measuring the sound absorption coefficient is known as,
Stead) state &ethod
. $his method is mostly used when the other will not work.$his particular method is
described in 0;$+ B..!F61. $o measure the transmission coefficientof the materials, a
third microphone or even a second pair of microphone can be placed behindthe test
sample in a second impedance tube.
Reverberant fie(d &ethod
for measuring sound absorption is concerned with the performanceof a material
eposed to a randomly incident sound wave, which technically occurs when thematerial
is in diffusive field %!1'. Aowever creation of a diffusive sound field re*uires a large
.2and costly reverberation room. 0 completely diffuse sound field can be achieved only
rarely.+oreover, an accurate value of comple impedance cannot be derived from the
absorptioncoefficient alone %6.'. ;ince sound is allowed to strike the material from all
directions, theabsorption coefficient determined is called random incidence sound
absorption coefficient, 804.$his method is clearly eplained in 0;$+ 4 5&. H 6&.
Two .icrophone *&pedance Tube Techni6ue (Transfer 0unction .ethod$
$he transfer function method ,0;$+ B 12"2- covers the use of an impedance tube, with
twomicrophone locations and a digital fre*uency analysis system for the determination
of normalincidence sound absorption coefficients ,(04- and normal specific acoustic
impedance ratios of materials. $his test method is similar to $est +ethod ,0;$+ 4 ./5-
in that it also uses animpedance tube with a sound source connected to one end and
the test sample mounted at theother end. $he measurement techni*ues for the two
methods are fundamentally different,however. First microphone tube method ,standing
wave method- is *uite cumbersome since aprobing of the sound field has to be carried
for each fre*uency.$he usable fre*uency range depends on the diameter of the tube
and the spacing between themicrophone positions. 0n etended fre*uency range may
be obtained by using tubes withvarious diameters and microphones spacing. #y this
method acoustical parameters likeabsorption coefficient, reflection coefficient and
surface admittance for a small samples eposedto plane waves can be determined %65'.
In the fig. !.& ,a- shows the wave propagation throughthe sample and fig. !.&,b- shows
the measuring system.,a- ,b-Fig7 !.& ,a- ;ound wave propagation and ,b- +easuring
system configuration.
.1$he ma9or parameters to be measured are the corrected transfer function
A
broken down into thereal part
A
r
and the imaginary part
A
i
, the comple reflection coefficient
8
determined by thereal part
8
r
and the imaginary part
8i
, and the normal incidence sound absorption coefficient

,taking values between 2 and 1-. $hese parameters are described below %!'7where7
A
D measured transfer function:
c
A
D microphone calibrated factor:
9
D1
\
, indicating an imaginary unit in the e*uation:
c
D speed of sound ,m>s-:

D density of air ,kg>m.-:

f
D sound fre*uency ,Az-:
k
D &

f
>
c
,m
H1
-: ,wabe no.-
l
D distance from the test specimen to the center of the nearest microphone ,m-:
s
D centerFtoFcenter spacing between the two microphones ,m-:
r
>

c
D

>%&,1 H
8
r
- H

', acoustic resistance ratio:

>

c
D &
8
i
%&,1 H
8
r
- H

', acoustic reactance ratio:

z
>

c
D acoustic impedance ratio %!, 65'.
.&
5- .ateria(s and &ethods and 7'peri&enta( Resu(ts,
For getting an eperimental eperience we have taken three types of nonwoven fabrics
whichmade by polypropylene. In the Iepartment of $etile $echnology, II$ Ielhi, we
have (ormalImpedance $ube instrument. 0ll the results, we have got eperimentally by
the above mentionedinstrument. $he instrument has been designed followed by
AST. C /82898
standard. $he bandfre*uency has taken as oneFthirdFoctave band. $he lower cutFoff
fre*uency has been kept at &"2Az. $he eperiment obtained up to &222 Az.Ietails
parameters of the sample has been shown in the table 6a.
;ample II +ass ,gsm- $hickness ,mm- Iensity ,gm>cc- Corosity(CC1 .6/ !.&5 2.2!
2.1.(CC& 6"! 1&.5/ 2.2! 2.1.(CC. 11.5 1/.6& 2.2! 2.1.$CC1 &6" 2.!1 2.52
2."6$CC& ""2 1../ 2.52 2."6$CC. /&" &.26 2.52 2."6$?CC1 /&.. 2.5. 2.11
2.61$?CC& 1!5.! 2./! 2.11 2.61$?CC. &5!.1 1.&1 2.11 2.61
$able 6,a-(CC FFFF (eedlepunch Colypropylene$CC FFFF $hermalbond
Colypropylene$?CC FFF $hermalbond ?ow gsm Colypropylene ,1, &, . denotes the
thickness increasing-(oise absorption coefficient has been observed in oneFthird octave
band fre*uency range for allthe samples.
..$able 6.1 shows the values of (04 with respect to Fre*uency ,Az- of the samples
(CC1, (CC&and (CC..Fig. 6.1 shows the relation between (04 and Fre*uency ,Az-
below.
N33! (
Q
$ N 3 3 2 (
Q
$ N 3 3 / (
Q
$0 - " / 0 - " #
0 - " 9 0 - " 9 0 - 5 !
0 - 5 / 0 - 5 2 0 - 5 2
0 - 5 # 0 - 5 # 0 - 5 5
0 - 5 9 0 - 8 0 - 8 2
0 - 8 " 0 - 8 /
0 - 8 8 0 - 9 0 - 8 #
0 - 9 0 - 9 / 0 - 8 5
0 - 9 ! 0 - 9 2 0 - 8 2
0 - 9 0 - 9 2 0 - 8
0 - 8 5 0 - 9
22.&2.52.!2./1
& " 2 . 1 " 5 2 2 " 2 2 ! . 2 / 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 & ! 2 1 ! 2 2 & 2 2 2
!:/ ;ctave band fre6uenc) (<=$
( 0 4 ,
Q
-
(CC1(CC&(CC.
$able 6.1 Figure 6.1$able 6.& shows the values of (04 with respect to Fre*uency ,Az-
of the samples $CC1, $CC&and $CC..Fig. 6.& shows the relation between (04 and
Fre*uency ,Az- of the sample below.
T33! (
Q
$ T 3 3 2 (
Q
$ T 3 3 / (
Q
$0 - 2 8 0 - # 2
0 - # 8 0 - # 0 - # #
0 - " 2 0 - # / 0 - # 5
0 - " " 0 - # 8 0 - " 2
0 - " 9 0 - " 0 - " 2
0 - 5 / 0 - " 2 0 - " 8
0 - 5 5 0 - " 9 0 - 5 /
0 - 5 9 0 - 5 5 0 - 5 9
0 - 8 / 0 - 5 5 0 - 5 "
0 - 8 ! 0 - 5 2 0 - 5 "
0 - 5 5
22.&2.52.!2./1
& " 2 . 1 " 5 2 2 " 2 2 ! . 2 / 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 & ! 2 1 ! 2 2 & 2 2 2
!:/ ;ctave band fre6uenc) (<=$
( 0 4 ,
Q
-
$CC1$CC&$CC.
$able 6.& Figure 6.&
.5$able 6.. shows the values of (04 with respect to Fre*uency ,Az- of the samples
$?CC1,$?CC& and $?CC..Fig. 6.. shows the relation between (04 and Fre*uency
,Az- of the samples below.
T>33! (
Q
$ T>332 (
Q
$ T > 3 3 / (
Q
$0 - 2 " 0 - 2 9
0 - # 2 0 - # 0 - # /
0 - # 8 0 - # # 0 - # "
0 - " / 0 - # 8 0 - "
0 - " " 0 - " 0 - " /
0 - " 8 0 - " " 0 - " 8
0 - 5 2 0 - " 9 0 - 5
0 - 5 # 0 - 5 / 0 - 5 #
0 - 5 9 0 - 5 " 0 - 5 5
0 - 5 9 0 - 5 2 0 - 5 2
0 - 5 5
22.12.&2..2.52."2.!2.62./2.1
& " 2 . 1 " 5 2 2 " 2 2 ! . 2 / 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 & ! 2 1 ! 2 2 & 2 2 2
!:/ ;ctave band fre6uenc) (<=$
( 0 4 ,
Q
-
$?CC1$?CC&$?CC.
$able 6.. Figure 6..
From the above all graphs, we can see that the values of

increasing with increasing thethickness of the nonwoven samples.$he noise reduction

coefficient has been shown in the table 6.5 and the fig.6.5 is showing thetendency of
(84 ,3- with increasing thickness.
; a m p l e ( 8 4 , 3 - ( C C 1 6 6 . ! ( C C &
/ 1 . ! ( C C . / 5 . 1 $ C C 1
! . $ C C & ! ! . & $ C C .
6 & . " $ ? C C 1 ! & . " $ ? C C &
! 5 . " $ ? C C . ! 1 . 1
66.!/1.!/5.1!.!!.&6&."!&."!5."!1.1"2""!2!"626"/2/"12+ i
n + i d +
a
Thic1ness
( 8 4 , 3 -
(CC$CC$?CC
$able 6.5 Figure 6.5
."
8- Ap(ication of sound absorptive &ateria(s,
(ow a days, acoustical material plays a number of important roles in acoustic
engineering suchas the control of room acoustics, industrial noise control, studio
acoustics and automotiveacoustics. ;ound absorptive materials are generally used to
counteract the undesirable effects of sound reflection by hard, rigid and interior surfaces
and thus help to reduce the reverberant noiselevels. $hey are used as interior lining for
apartments, automotives, aircrafts, and ducts,enclosures for noise e*uipments and
insulations for appliances. 0utomotive interior noise beundesirable for both the
passenger and driver: many author have studied that the tetile structureshave the
potential to reduce interior noise in automobiles %6"'. ;ound absorptive materials
mayalso be used to control the response of artistic performance spaces to steady and
transient soundsources, thereby affecting the character of the aural environment, the
intelligibility of unreinforced speech and the *uality of unreinforced musical sound.
4ombining absorptivematerials with barriers produces composite products that can be
used to lag pipe or provideabsorptive curtain assemblies %.2'. 0ll noise control problem
starts with the spectra of theemitting source. $herefore, sound absorbing materials are
chosen in terms of material types anddimension, and also based on the fre*uency of
sound to be controlled %1!, !&
?
.
So&e app(ication area,
#uildings P 4onstruction Industrial Clants0coustic 4eiling Canel 0utomotive
industriesBnclosable (oise ;ources Gutdoor (oise ;ourcesCrinting Cresses Cublic
$ransportIefense Industries 0eronautical BngineeringA)04 0pplications ;tamping
CressesAospital application Blectronic Industries+arine Insulation Lallery P
0uditoriums etc.
.!
9- Conc(usion,
0 sound wave is an obvious parametric feature which helps us to hear something. (ot
only that,sound wave is an important communicator for the daily life too. ;ome times the
sound wavemakes us unhappy and irritated, because it@s a noisy world. $wentyFfour
hours a day, seven daysa week, we are eposed to sounds we do not want, need, or
benefit from. $here are few places onthe planet where in our daily lives we are free from
unwanted sounds. <e can get a pleasantenvironment by controlling the noise hazards.
For this purpose many people have studied how tocontrol the noise and make peaceful
circumstances.?ot of researchers have served the results on the sound absorption
characteristics of fibrous aswell as other materials. Fibrous materials have good sound
absorption characteristics. ;oundabsorptive materials can be classified into three
categories such as absorptive materials, #arriermaterials and damping material.$he
performance of the sound absorptive materials depends on some important factors that
arefibre diameter, fiber surface area, thickness, bulk density, porosity, airflow resistivity,
tortuosityand surface impedance.<e have seen that the most important factor for sound
absorption is the air flow resistivity of thefibrous materials. ;everal times, researchers
have found that the sound absorption coefficient ,

-increasing with increasing the airflow resistivity. #ecause of that, the airflow resistivity
dependson the materials porosity and bulk density. <e know that, if the fibre volume
fraction decreasing,the porosity is increasing. ;o, porosity increasing that means the
bulkiness of the materials isincreasing and airflow resistivity is decreasing. For a certain
range of fre*uency, the soundabsorption coefficient is increasing with increasing the
flow resistivity.In this report, we have seen that the above noted factors have direct
relation to the soundabsorption properties of the materials and out of that, some
secondary factors also affectindirectly. ;ome researchers have reported that the sound
absorption coefficient is increasingwith increasing the thickness as well as bulk density
and airflow resistivity.$he attenuation or dissipation of acoustic energy as a sound wave
moves through a medium maybe attributed to three basic mechanisms that are,
frictional losses, momentum losses andtemperature fluctuations.
.60 number of models have been established by several researchers to find out
the soundabsorption characteristics of the fibrous materials. $hey have given some
important e*uationsfrom which we can easily calculate the sound absorption coefficient
of the tested materials.Iifferent techni*ues have been developed to measure the sound
absorption properties of thematerials such as impedance tube methods, steady state
methods and reverberant field methods$hese three methods have been briefly
discussed in the report.From the eperiment result and discussion, we can see that the
noise absorption coefficient aswell as noise reduction coefficient is increasing with
increasing thickness.In the present society, we have seen that the sound absorptive
materials have crucial demand.0pplication of the sound absorbing materials to various
fields is necessary. For the purpose of the specific application of the materials,
manufacturers consider the following criteria as for thevarieties of products which
should be economical, durable, good aesthetic property, easyprocessibility and
obviously beneficial. Iepending on those factors, huge applications of thesound
absorptive materials have been found in automobile industries, aeronautical
industries,building construction, hospital application, and so on.
./
!0- References,
1. Aong G7 Aearing loss among operating engineers in 0merican constructionindustry.
Int 0rch Gccup Bnviron Aealth
&22", 6/,6-7"!"F"65.,&. +ikola9czyk A, 4ieslewicz 07 %0uditory threshold and the degree
of its temporaryand permanent shifts in the tetile industry workers'.
+ed Cr
11/&, ..,1F.-7"6F!5... Oakir V. ;hoshani, Bffect of (onwoven #ackings on the (oise
0bsorption 4apacity of $ufted 4arpets,
$etile 8esearch Kournal
1112: !2: 5"&.
5. $ilak Iias and 8avi +onaragala, ;ound absorption in knitted structures for
interiornoise reduction in automobiles, +easurement ;cience and technology, 16 ,&22!-
&511F&"2".". 0ndrea Vent and Kohn $. ?ong, 0utomotive ;ound 0bsorbing +aterial
;urvey8esults, &226F21F&1/!, 4opyright ] &226 ;0B International.!. O. 4hen and (.
Kiang, 4arbonized and 0ctivated (onFwovens as AighFCerformance0coustic +aterials7
Cart I (oise,
$etile 8esearch Kournal
&226: 66: 6/".
6. )i9ayanand ;. +oholkar and +ari9n +.4.L. <armoeskerken,
0coustical4haracteristics of $etile +aterials,
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