An investigation into sound transmission loss by polypropylene needle-punched nonwovens

In this work, the effects of variables such as initial carded web mass, needle penetration depth, punch density, and the frequency of incident sound wave on transmission of sound through polypropylene needle-punched nonwovens were investigated. Fibrous carded webs using commercially available 17 dtex, 90 mm staple length polypropylene fibers were prepared with different mass per unit area using carding machine. Samples were needled at various punch-densities and needle penetration depths were produced. Design points of experiments were set up using Taguchi experimental design method. Sound transmission loss (STL) of needled samples was measured using an impedance tube equipped with four microphones. Minitab software was used to analyze the sound transmission ability of the samples. Results indicated that all of the considered controllable factor have significant effects on STL values determined for the needled nonwovens. Also, initial carded web mass was found to be the most influential factor affecting sound transmission through the samples. It was concluded that an increase in thickness of the samples as well as mass per unit area of nonwovens results in higher sound transmission loss by the samples.