Mitigation of Vibrations Using Composite Materials Produced from Rice Husk and Recycled Rubber

Abstract

In the construction sector, the development of innovative material has been adopting sustainability strategies to reduce the negative impacts of this industry. One of the most relevant strategy over the last years has been the incorporation of waste on building materials. In this context, used rubber and rice husk are both waste materials generated by different industries with sig- nificant environmental impacts. This research set out to assess the potential of composite materials made of rice husk and recycled rubber agglomerated with polyurethane for mitigation of vibrations to use in building construction. Two formulations with similar density and thickness were developed with different percentages of rice husk. The determination of mechanical and vibro-acoustic properties of both for- mulations were conducted. The first part of this paper is focused on the assessment of the static behaviour of the mixtures by different mechanical tests (compressive stress at 10% strain and compressive creep tests). Finally, the dynamic behaviour was evaluated through transmissibility tests for different loads and excitation frequencies using appropriate laboratory test equipment. From the resulting transmissibility curves, it is also possible to calculate the dynamic transfer stiffness of the composite materials. The results obtained are very promising and suggest that these composites will be adequate for vibration mitigation. At the same time, these materials can successfully contribute to generate waste recovery opportunities for the con- struction industry.