Acoustic performance of natural fibries of oil palm

• Main Author: Navin Balakrishnan
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Sound absorpiton; Natural fiber

In a world full of pollution, sound pollution is a pressing matter that’s vaguely acknowledged. Sound absorbers exist to battle sound pollution, although it can’t completely eliminate sound pollution, it helps reduce sound pollution by some margin. However, the current existing sound absorbers are made of synthetic materials that are harmful to the nature, thus natural fibers are being used to replace the use of synthetic materials. This research project is about the study of acoustic performance of Natural Fibers of Oil Palm Frond (40%) and Acacia Mangium (60%) with thickness of 18mm in different densities. The densities that were chosen for this research project are 100 kg/m³, 120 kg/m³, 140 kg/m³ and 160 kg/m³ while the thickness was fixed at 18mm, this was used to fabricate the samples used in this research project. Two tests were conducted for this project, the tests are Sound Absorption Coefficient (SAC) test which was conducted in MPOB research station and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which was done in University Tenaga Nasional. The fabrication of the board was also conducted at MPOB research centre which is located at Bangi Lama. The results obtained from this research show that the fiberboard with density of 120 kg/m³ was considered as the optimum fiberboard as it had achieved overall good absorption coefficient. This sample had achieved a SAC value of 1.0 at a frequency of 2400 Hz till 2800 Hz and then reduced to 0.99 and finally became constant with an SAC of 0.94 at a frequency of 6400 Hz. This sample also had optimum tortuosity and porosity and had a lot of trichrome which helps with sound absorption. The lower densities had overall better Sound Absorption Coefficient than that of the higher densities. From this research project, it’s found that the combination of Acacia Mangium and Oil Palm Frond with lower densities has high potential in sound absorbing and can be used to replace the current existing use of synthetic materials in the future.