Abstract
In recent years, natural materials are becoming a valid alternative to traditional sound absorbers due to reduced production costs and environmental protection. This study explores alternative usage of sheep wool as a construction material with improved sound absorbing properties beyond its traditional application as a sound absorber in textile industry or using of waste wool in the textile industry as a raw material. The aim of this study was to obtain materials with improved sound-absorbing properties using sheep wool as a raw material. Seven materials were obtained by hot pressing (60 ÷ 80 °C and 0.05 ÷ 6 MPa) of wool fibers and one by cold pressing. Results showed that by simply hot pressing the wool, a different product was obtained, which could be processed and easily manipulated. The obtained materials had very good sound absorption properties, with acoustic absorption coefficient values of over 0.7 for the frequency range of 800 ÷ 3150 Hz. The results prove that sheep wool has a comparable sound absorption performance to mineral wool or recycled polyurethane foam.
Highlights
From a sustainable development perspective, an important goal is to choose raw materials that are recyclable and renewable as well as locally available and environmentally friendly
The material density is an important factor for the acoustic absorption of a material
The acoustic characterization of the materials was based on the sound absorption coefficient α [36]
Summary
From a sustainable development perspective, an important goal is to choose raw materials that are recyclable and renewable as well as locally available and environmentally friendly. This includes timber, clay, stone, straw, bio-based fibers, and sheep wool, provided that any further processing is carried out with low energy consumption. The origin of these materials can be vegetable or animal so that their manufacturing has a low environmental impact due to the energy saved in the production process [1]. Processing 1 m3 of sheep wool insulation produces almost 5.4 kg of CO2 , whereas the quantity of CO2 produced is 135 kg in the Materials 2020, 13, 694; doi:10.3390/ma13030694 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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