Copper foam sustained silica aerogel for high-efficiency acoustic absorption

We synthesized the copper foam sustained silica aerogel (CFSA) by sol-gel transition followed by CO2 supercritical drying. The as-prepared CFSA exhibits excellent sound absorption capability and favorable compressive properties. Incorporation of epoxy resin during sol-gel process can improve the combination between silica aerogel and copper foam framework, which helps to significantly increase the average sound absorption from ∼36% to ∼55% (200-3900 Hz) and the maximum sound absorption coefficient from 0.78 to 0.99. A high Young’s modulus of ∼11.01 MPa and compression strength of ∼0.30 MPa were demonstrated for CFSA as well. The fabricated CFSA also shows some advantages, e.g., lightweight (density of 0.28 g/cm3) and hydrophobic. Such fascinating artificial composite may provide new insights into the development of strong and effective aerogel sound-absorbing materials for various applications.