Copper foam sustained silica aerogel for high-efficiency acoustic absorption

Ju-Qi Ruan,Shan-Tao Zhang,Dafang Huang,Xin Li,Hao Ge,Ming-Hui Lu

doi:10.1063/1.5083225

Abstract

We synthesized the copper foam sustained silica aerogel (CFSA) by sol-gel transition followed by CO2 supercritical drying. The as-prepared CFSA exhibits excellent sound absorption capability and favorable compressive properties. Incorporation of epoxy resin during sol-gel process can improve the combination between silica aerogel and copper foam framework, which helps to significantly increase the average sound absorption from ∼36% to ∼55% (200-3900 Hz) and the maximum sound absorption coefficient from 0.78 to 0.99. A high Young’s modulus of ∼11.01 MPa and compression strength of ∼0.30 MPa were demonstrated for CFSA as well. The fabricated CFSA also shows some advantages, e.g., lightweight (density of 0.28 g/cm3) and hydrophobic. Such fascinating artificial composite may provide new insights into the development of strong and effective aerogel sound-absorbing materials for various applications.

Highlights

Aerogels are ultralight three-dimensional porous materials that play an important role in various advanced applications, e.g., thermal insulation,1,2 supercapacitors,3,4 pollutant adsorption,5–7 drug carriers,8,9 and so on
The results show obtained aerogels are with excellent broadband sound absorption performance, which possessing a highest noise reduction coefficient of 0.67 and a maximum absorption coefficient of 0.98 (1910 Hz) with a sample thickness of 45 mm
The results demonstrate a high overall performances of sound absorption and mechanical strength for fabricated copper foam sustained silica aerogel (CFSA) compared with aerogel materials reported in literatures

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Aerogels are ultralight three-dimensional porous materials that play an important role in various advanced applications, e.g., thermal insulation, supercapacitors, pollutant adsorption, drug carriers, and so on. Ramamoorthy et al. studied the acoustic absorption behavior of fabricated silica aerogel/PET nonwoven composites The results show these aerogel/PET nonwovens (5 mm thick) present fascinating sound absorption capability with a high average absorption of ∼55% from 50 to 6300 Hz. Y. The results show that by achieving the highest mechanical property (Young’s modulus of 25.1 MPa and compression strength of 5.46 MPa), the accompanying loss in sound absorption capability of fabricated aerogel samples (maximum absorption coefficient of only ∼0.55 from 125 to 4000 Hz) becomes inevitably. What appeals to us is to develop new-style aerogel composites with high overall performances for sound absorption and mechanical strength. The results demonstrate a high overall performances of sound absorption and mechanical strength for fabricated CFSA compared with aerogel materials reported in literatures

Materials

Characterizations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

SUMMARY