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Sound absorption properties of porous composites fabricated by a hydrogel templating technique

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Abstract

We have used a hydrogel templating technique followed by the subsequent evaporation of water present to fabricate porous cement and porous PDMS composites, and we have analyzed their sound absorption properties. All experiments were carried out with hydrogel slurries of broad bead size distributions. Porous PDMS and cement composites were produced with porosities of up to 80% and 70%, respectively. Scanning electron microscope analysis shows fibrous domains within the voids created by the hydrogel in the cement samples and open pore network in the PDMS composites of initial hydrogel content higher than 70 vol%. Sound absorption was improved with respect to control nonporous samples in all composites with porosities higher than 60 vol%, where an open pore structure was formed. The porous PDMS and porous cement produced by this method show better sound absorption at 200–400 Hz and 1200–1800 Hz frequency ranges when compared with the sound absorption in the intermediate frequencies range between 400 and 1000 Hz.

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Acknowledgments

M.R. appreciates the Industrial CASE PhD studentship from the EPSRC and Unilever for this study. We also thank the University of Hull for the partial support of this study and Mr Nigel Parkin for the fabrication of the cylindrical molds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

    Marius Rutkevičius, Georg H. Mehl & Vesselin N. Paunov

  2. The Acoustics Research Centre, School of Engineering, The University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

    Qin Qin & Philip A. Rubini

  3. Unilever R&D Vlaardingen, 3133 AT, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands

    Simeon D. Stoyanov

  4. Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, 6703 HB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Simeon D. Stoyanov

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK

    Simeon D. Stoyanov

  6. DP4-8A, Unilever Discover Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 3JW, UK

    Jordan Petkov

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  1. Marius Rutkevičius
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  2. Georg H. Mehl
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  3. Vesselin N. Paunov
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  4. Qin Qin
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  5. Philip A. Rubini
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  6. Simeon D. Stoyanov
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  7. Jordan Petkov
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Correspondence to Marius Rutkevičius or Vesselin N. Paunov.

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Rutkevičius, M., Mehl, G.H., Paunov, V.N. et al. Sound absorption properties of porous composites fabricated by a hydrogel templating technique. Journal of Materials Research 28, 2409–2414 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.194

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.194

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