Sound absorbing and insulating properties of natural fiber hybrid composites using sugarcane bagasse and bamboo charcoal

This research paper reports a study on thermal and sound insulation samples developed from sugarcane bagasse and bamboo charcoal for automotive industry applications. The sugarcane bagasse and bamboo charcoal fiber is a potential source of raw material that can be considered for thermal and sound insulation applications. Natural fibers are commonly used in diverse applications and one of the most important applications is sound absorption. Natural fiber hybrid composite currently is in greater demand in industries because of their advantages such as low cost, biodegradability, acceptable physical properties, and so on. Eco-friendly sound-absorbing composite materials have been developed using bamboo charcoal and sugarcane bagasse fibers. From these fibers five types of natural fiber green composite were developed using the compression bonding technique. The natural composite noise control performance contributes to its wider adoption as sound absorbers. The sound absorption coefficient was measured according to ASTM E 1050 by the Impedance tube method. The physical properties of natural fiber composites such as thickness, density, porosity, air permeability, and thermal conductivity were analyzed for all samples in accordance with ASTM Standard. The result exposed that natural fiber green composite were absorbing the sound resistance of more than 70% and the natural fibers composites provide the best acoustic absorption properties, these composite materials have adequate moisture resistance at high humidity conditions without affecting the insulation and acoustic properties.