Taking advantage of a 3D printing imperfection in the development of sound-absorbing materials

• Published in: Applied acoustics Vol. 197; p. 108941
• Main Authors: Zieliński, Tomasz G., Dauchez, Nicolas, Boutin, Thomas, Leturia, Mikel, Wilkinson, Alexandre, Chevillotte, Fabien, Bécot, François-Xavier, Venegas, Rodolfo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acoustics; Additive manufacturing; Double porosity; Engineering Sciences; Multiscale modelling; Pressure diffusion; Sound absorption; Additive manufacturing; Double porosity; Multiscale modelling; Sound absorption; Pressure diffusion
• ISSN: 0003-682X; 1872-910X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apacoust.2022.108941

•Double-porosity materials can be 3D printed using powders as raw materials.•Main pore network designed; micropores are a side effect of the 3D printing process.•Additional acoustic energy dissipation by pressure diffusion.•Double-porosity phenomena demonstrated in designed 3D printed materials.•3D printing with microporosity can be used to develop acoustic materials.
At first glance, it seems that modern, inexpensive additive manufacturing (AM) technologies can be used to produce innovative, efficient acoustic materials with tailored pore morphology. However, on closer inspection, it becomes rather obvious that for now this is only possible for specific solutions, such as relatively thin, but narrow-band sound absorbers. This is mainly due to the relatively poor resolutions available in low-cost AM technologies and devices, which prevents the 3D-printing of pore networks with characteristic dimensions comparable to those found in conventional broadband sound-absorbing materials. Other drawbacks relate to a number of imperfections associated with AM technologies, including porosity or rather microporosity inherent in some of them. This paper shows how the limitations mentioned above can be alleviated by 3D-printing double-porosity structures, where the main pore network can be designed and optimised, while the properties of the intentionally microporous skeleton provide the desired permeability contrast, leading to additional broadband sound energy dissipation due to pressure diffusion. The beneficial effect of additively manufactured double porosity and the phenomena associated with it are rigorously demonstrated and validated in this work, both experimentally and through precise multiscale modelling, on a comprehensive example that can serve as benchmark.