Abstract
Studies on recycled materials emerged during recent years. This paper investigates samples’ sound absorption properties for panels fabricated of a mixture of paper sludge (PS) and clay mixture. PS was the core material. The sound absorption was measured. We also consider the influence of an air gap between panels and rigid backing. Different air gaps (50, 100, 150, 200 mm) simulate existing acoustic panel systems. Finally, the PS and clay composite panel sound absorption coefficients are compared to those for a typical commercial absorptive ceiling panel. The average sound absorption coefficient of PS-clay composite panels (αavg. in the frequency range from 250 to 1600 Hz) was up to 0.55. The resulting average sound absorption coefficient of panels made of recycled (but unfinished) materials is even somewhat higher than for the finished commercial (finished) acoustic panel (αavg. = 0.51).
Highlights
All the paper sludge (PS) and clay panels were tested to find the optimal ones with regard to sound absorption
PS was used as a raw material in this study to produce acoustic panels
Clay was used as a binder to make robust PS and clay composite panels
Summary
Citation: Astrauskas, T.; Januševičius, T.; Grubliauskas, R.Acoustic Panels Made of PaperSludge and Clay Composites.Sustainability 2021, 13, 637. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020637Received: 21 December 2020Accepted: 7 January 2021Published: 11 January 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
