Acoustical absorbers made from foam polyurethanes and waste tires particles

G. SOTO; N. VIACHETTI; F. IASI; A. ARMAS; N. E. MARCOVICH; M. A. MOSIEWICKI

MAR DEL PLATA

Simposio; XVI Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros - XIV Congreso Iberoamericano de Polímeros. SLAP 2018; 2018

Flexible polyurethane foams (FPUFs) are porous materials that can absorb the sound energy, making them very useful for the control of noise. When a porous material is exposed to incident sound waves, the air molecules at the surface of the material and within the pores are forced to vibrate and lose some of their original energy. This is because part of the energy of the air molecules is converted into heat due to thermal and viscous losses at the walls of the interior pores and tunnels within the material [1]. Nowadays, the production of FPUFs is based on petrochemical feedstock and the use of natural raw materials and/or waste products is a big challenge [2]. In this sense, the chemical modification of vegetable oils is a promising alternative in the production of green polyols [2,3]. On the other hand, the use of recycled rubber in the production of sound absorbers can help to solve the existing problems of both waste disposal and noise pollution [4]. In this work, hydroxylated methyl esters from tung oil (HMETO) and glycerol (GLY) as the byproduct of the alkaline transesterification of tung oil were added to the formulation of flexible foams made from a commercial polyether polyol and a polyisocyanate. Furthermore, the foams were modified by the addition of particles of waste tires (WTP) as fillers with capability for acoustical absorption and low thermal conductivity.