Acoustic Isolation behavior of Composite Materials reinforced by natural filler using Robust Design

Abstract

The effect of natural fillers on the acoustic isolation property of unsaturated polyester composite has been experimentally investigated. Three types of date palm waste be selected. The wastes were ground and sieved separately to produce the natural filler with particle size ? 400µm. The most important stage in the experiment design is the control factors selection. Each of waste fillers used at (2%, 3% and 5%) weight fraction. Three parameters with three level introduced. The experiments design arranged according to Taguchi technique L9 (33) orthogonal array. The acoustic isolation property examined in a sound-insulated box at low and high frequency. The experimental results analyzed using analysis of mean, signal to noise ratio and analysis of variance. The results show that, all the composites samples reinforced with palm waste present higher sound absorption as compared to the pure unsaturated polyester material. The optimum combination parameters are equivalent to (3% date seed, 5% old leaf base, 5% petiole and 87% polyester) weight fraction, in which improved the plate sound absorption by 19%. The significant parameter is the petiole filler with a contribution exceed to 90%, followed by Old leaf base and then the date seeds fillers.

Keywords-natural filler; unsaturated polyester; acoustic isolation; Taguchi