Effect of Porous Materials Combination in Layers on Sound Absorption Characteristics

This paper describes the investigation and analysis on two materials in which one material is a relatively good sound absorber at low frequency range and another is a relatively good sound absorber at high frequency range, combined together in layers to form a better sound absorber for a wider range of frequencies. The layer combinations of the materials are varied and the values of Sound Absorption Coefficient, α are measured experimentally by using impedance tubes with two microphones transfer function method according to ISO 10534-2 standard. The results obtained are compared in terms of the order of material and the number of layer combinations of materials for each sample. The orders of combinations and number of layers of combinations have significant influence on the sound absorption characteristics. The order of materials has reversed effect on Sound Absorption Coefficient, α as the number of layer combination is increased. Increase in the combination number will make the specimen performed relatively better at a wider frequency range.