Application of electrospinning fibres on sound absorption in low and medium frequency range

Owing to their excellent viscoelasticity and easy processing properties, polymer materials have a huge potential in sound absorption. Moreover, micro-/nanofibres can be produced by electrospinning technology with many special advantages, such as high specific surface area. In this paper, electrospun fibres based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE) were prepared for the sound absorption test. The scanning electron microscopy micrographs showed that three types of fibres with mean diameters of 400, 1000 and 1000 nm for PAN, TPU and TPEE were obtained respectively. The sound absorption coefficients of the electrospun fibres were measured using the impedance tube instrument at different frequencies. Membranes with different back cavities were investigated. The results showed on the whole that the electrospun fibres had good acoustical performance in the low and medium frequency range (100-2500 Hz). Compared with TPU and TPEE fibre membranes, the PAN membrane measurement at the same condition had higher sound absorption coefficients in the frequency of 100-2500 Hz. These high specific surface and flexible electrospun fibres are suitable candidates for noise reduction in the low and medium frequency range.