Sound insulation of multi-layer glass-fiber felts: Role of morphology

Abstract

Glass-fiber felts have emerged as a popular material for noise reduction. This paper investigates the effect of various morphologies (micro-layer, macro-layer and air-layer) of glass-fiber felts on sound insulation. The sound transmission loss is measured by a Brüel & Kjár (B&K) impedance tube. The results show that the sound insulation of glass-fiber felts can be improved by increasing the number of macro-layers. The comparison between the macro- and micro-layer of glass-fiber felts on sound insulation is systematically carried out. Notably, the sound transmission loss of glass-fiber felts with similar areal density and thickness favors macro-layer structures over micro-layer structures. A simple model is established to explain this phenomenon. In addition, the sound transmission loss exhibits period fluctuations due to the presence of the air-layer between glass-fiber felts, which can be theoretically explained by the resonance effect. It is found that sound transmission loss can be improved by increasing the number of air-layers.