Abstract
In recent years, natural fiber polymer composites have demonstrated great potential for reducing noise. This study reports sound transmission loss (STL) of hybrid flax fabric-reinforced polypropylene composites. The STL values were determined by the BSWA impedance tube and evaluated by ISO 10534 standard test procedure in the frequency range of 64 to 1600 Hz. Measurements show that the STL per areal density of flax/polypropylene is two times higher compared to aluminum. A noteworthy result is that upon hybridization with 13% carbon fibers (carbon-flax/polypropylene), the STL per areal density increases by 2.4 times. This study also presents the finite element (FE) simulation of sound transmission through the composites. Good agreement between FE predicted and experimentally measured STL is obtained. Moreover, parametric sensitivity studies are performed using the developed FE model to examine the effect of possible variation in the mechanical properties of the natural fiber composites on the STL performance. It is found that within 15% variation, no significant effect on STL is obtained and that STL is only sensitive to the in-plane elastic moduli.
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