Utilization of oil palm trunk (Elaeis guineensis) as foam composite for sound absorption

Abstract

Oil Palm Trunk (OPT) act as a filler for polymer foam composite has been investigated and proved to have ability to absorb sound. In this study, treatment of wood untreated and treated with acid hydrolysis named as UP5 and TP5 was use as filler. This study was developed to compare the ability of sound absorption based on different composition of filler in polymer foam composite. By choosing the size of <500 μm, three different percentage has been selected which is 10 %, 15 % and 20 % for both conditions. These samples has been tested by using Impedance Tube test according to ASTM E-1050 for sound absorption coefficient, α measurement and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for determine the porosity for each samples. 20 % filler loading of UP5 gives highest sound absorption coefficient of 0.97 at 4728 Hz. Meanwhile for 20 % loaded of TP5 gives 0.99 at 3371 Hz. When comparing the sound absorption coefficient for both sounds absorbing materials, TP5 polymer foam composite showed higher value of sound absorption coefficient, α at lower frequency level (Hz) as compared to UP5 polymer foam composite which gives better results in sound absorption.