Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Sound and vibration damping characteristics in natural material based

sandwich composites
James J. Sargianis a, Hyung-Ick Kim b, Erik Andres b, Jonghwan Suhr a,b,⇑
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, 130 Academy Street, Newark, DE 19716, United States
b
Center for Composite Materials, University of Delaware, 201 Composite Manufacturing Science Lab., Newark, DE 19716, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recently, considerable attention has been paid on the utilization of natural materials in structures. Uti-
Available online 17 September 2012 lizing natural materials over traditional, synthetic structures results in a reduction of carbon emissions
from material synthesis; such a source of materials could also be renewable and recyclable. Currently,
Keywords: few reports exist on sound and vibrational properties in sandwich composites with the use of natural
Sandwich materials. Sandwich composites are commonly used in structures for their superior strength and stiff-
Composite ness-to-weight ratios, but from these same properties, they radiate noise efficiently. Here, in this study,
Vibration
the sound and vibration damping properties of natural material based sandwich composites were
Acoustic
Natural
explored and characterized. It was experimentally observed that utilizing a balsa wood core with a nat-
Sound ural fiber based face sheet has a 100% improvement in coincidence frequency, a metric of acoustic per-
formance, and the combination of a natural fiber based face sheet with a Rohacell 51 WF synthetic
core exhibits a 233% increase over a fully synthetic sandwich composite. As these improvements in
acoustic performance are achieved with only small sacrifices in bending stiffness, these results suggest
that, if optimized, natural material based sandwich composites could be an environmentally friendly
solution to the sandwich structure-noise radiation problem.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Over the last couple of decades there is an increasing demand

Traditional fiber reinforced composite materials consist of
either glass or carbon fibers, coupled with a resin. These materials
are strong, stiff and light-weight, often providing superior mechan-
ical performance at a reduced weight compared to their metallic
counterparts. Utilizing these materials as face sheets for sandwich
structures provides an even greater improvement in mechanical
performance and are preferred in many applications with weight
constraints; Fig. 1a shows a schematic of a sandwich composite
beam. Unfortunately, the light-weight and stiff properties of sand-
wich structures make them efficient noise radiators compared to
metallic structures. Acoustic properties are often a secondary de-
sign criteria in sandwich composite structures, whereas mechani-
cal performance and weight are primary concerns. Thus rather
than sacrificing mechanical performance, common state-of-art
methods involve the addition of sound absorbing material, which
is expensive, labor-intensive, and adds more weights to the struc-
ture; this often raises the issue of structural integrity.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Delaware, 130 Academy Street, Newark, DE 19716, United States.
E-mail address: suhr@udel.edu (J. Suhr).
for materials that are more environmentally friendly. There have
been many studies performed on natural material based sandwich
composites [1–13], which take advantage of both natural materials
as well as superior mechanical performance over metallic struc-
tures. These ‘‘natural’’ materials could essentially be grown for
the purpose of sandwich composite fabrication, in turn providing
such benefits as being both biodegradable and recyclable. More-
over, replacing synthetic materials with natural materials results
in a reduction carbon emissions, since oil and other carbon prod-
ucts are needed for the fabrication of synthetic structures. Dwieb
et al. [3] showed that structured sandwich panels made from nat-
ural resins and fibers can be combined with recycled materials to
maintain the panel’s superior stiffness. Bamboo is a popular fiber
to be used when it comes to natural materials, since it has superior
stiffness as bamboo shoots in nature. Murali Mohan Rao [7] com-
pared different types of natural fibers, and found that bamboo-
based composites have superior strength amongst the natural fiber
composites in the study. Kim et al. [5] has used both wood and cot-
ton fiber in polypropylene natural fiber composites at various fiber
volume percentages. Another popular natural material is kenaf fi-
bers [12]; both kenaf and other natural materials such as cotton
and flax are being used in composite structures for interior mate-
rials of automotive structures [12,13].

0263-8223/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.09.006
 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544
Fig. 1. (a) A schematic of a sandwich composite. (b) Bamboo face sheet with Balsa wood core sandwich beam. (c) Cotton face sheet with Rohacell foam core sandwich beam.
(d) Carbon fiber face sheet with Rohacell foam core sandwich beam. (e) Cotton face sheet with Pine wood core sandwich beam.
One previous study [11] showed the promise of natural cork
agglomerate as a core material, couple with carbon fiber face
sheets, in sandwich structures. Results showed vastly improved
sound and vibration performance over traditional synthetic sand-
wich structures. In this study, more combinations of other types
of natural materials are explored in a sandwich structure configu-
ration. Cotton, bamboo, and carbon fiber based composites are cho-
sen as face sheets, while balsa wood, pine wood and synthetic
Rohacell foam are used as core materials in sandwich composite
materials. As previously mentioned, these natural materials have
been used in the past to create composite structures, and are often
used as secondary structures (i.e. non-critical structures), such as
automotive interiors. Even though natural material based sand-
wich composites are receiving increased attention and usage in
application, few studies have been performed on the acoustic
and vibrational properties of natural fiber sandwich composites,
especially with regard to noise radiation and structural damping.
Such a problem is essential to investigate, since nearly all current
and potential applications are exposed to a wide range of
vibrations.
The goal of this study is to explore the acoustic response and
damping properties of sandwich composite beams composed with
natural materials and compare them over commonly used tradi-
tional sandwich composites, such as carbon fiber face sheet based
Rohacell core sandwich composites. By utilizing such materials in
the fabrication of sandwich structures, significant reductions in
carbon emissions could be achieved, along with the ability to have
materials which are renewable, recyclable and biodegradable.
539
Natural material based sandwich composites with improved acoustic
performance and damping properties will be an environmentally
friendly solution to the sandwich structure-noise radiation
challenge.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials and fabrication
This study utilizes two types of natural fiber composite face
sheets (bamboo and cotton with vinyl ester resin), and one syn-
thetic face sheet (carbon fiber with epoxy). The carbon fiber-epoxy
face sheet was supplied as a fully cured 0–90° laminate from the
M.C. Gill Corporation, and consequently no further curing or fabri-
cation was required. The purpose of selecting such a material is
that it is often used in applications, such as commercial aircraft,
and provides an excellent baseline for current state-of-art face
sheet materials. For the two natural fiber face sheets, the method
of manufacturing was Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Method,
or VARTM. A stainless steel table was cleaned and prepared with
the fiber sheets cut and oriented for infusion. Both the bamboo
and cotton layups were a 0–90–90–90° orientation; the extra lam-
inae (compared to the 0–90° for the carbon fiber) were added to in-
crease the laminate’s elastic modulus. After the fibers were
oriented, the entire layup was then bagged and placed under a vac-
uum to have the resin properly infused. The resin used in this fab-
rication process was Derekane 510-A Vinyl Ester Resin, mixed with
Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide, Cobalt Naphthalene, and 2,4-P
540 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544

Table 1
Face sheet and core properties.

Material Elastic modulus (E1, GPA) Shear modulus (G13, MPa) Density (kg/m3) G/q
Carbon fiber-epoxy face sheet 100 N/A 1600 N/A
Cotton-vinyl ester face sheet 2.90 N/A 1300 N/A
Bamboo-vinyl ester face sheet 2.38 N/A 1150 N/A
Rohacell 51 WF core 7.5E2 24.6 52 0.473
Balsa wood core N/A 201–230 (Measured) 332 0.663
108–312 [14]
Pine wood core N/A 409–605 (Measured) 475 1.053

Table 2
Beam properties.

Material Face sheet thickness Beam width Core thickness Measured beam bending stiffness Stiffness-to-mass
(mm) (mm) (mm) (106 N mm2) ratio
Carbon fiber – Rohacell 51 0.38 25.4 18.4 50 1794
WF
Cotton – Rohacell 51 WF 2.6 41.6 17.0 145 903
Cotton-balsa wood 2.6 43.7 18.5 153 537
Cotton-pine wood 2.6 40.6 9.5 201 870
Bamboo – Rohacell 51 WF 1.9 41.1 17.0 158 1449
Bamboo-balsa wood 1.9 40.1 18.2 159 754
Bamboo-pine wood 1.9 40.5 9.5 228 1288

Acetalacetone. After about 24 h, the bag was removed, and the part
was left exposed to the atmosphere to finish venting the styrene
gas produced from the curing resin. Table 1 provides a list of mate-
rials, with Table 2 showing all of the combinations of sandwich
beams which were created; all of the lengths were kept constant
at 505 mm. Densities were obtained by measuring the volume
and mass of small pieces for each, while a 3-point bend test was
performed to obtain the Young’s modulus of the face sheets.
Fabrication of the sandwich composite beams required cutting
the natural fiber laminates and core materials to necessary lengths,
and then applying Loctite 1L-1V epoxy to bond the materials to-
gether. In order to assure a fully cured and bonded beam, the mate-
rials were placed under vacuum pressure in a vacuum bag for 48 h.
Fig. 1a shows a sample of a sandwich composite beam, while
Fig. 1b–e shows various combinations of the sandwich composite
beams.
2.2. Acoustic property measurement
This study employs the wave number analysis to investigate
acoustic performance of sandwich composite beams, which pro-
vides the coincidence frequency and wave number amplitudes
from a structure’s frequency response function; the former defines
when the wave speeds become supersonic and radiate noise, the
latter provides a relative understanding of the level of noise which
is radiated. He and Gmerek [15] have utilized the wave number ap-
proach to characterize these properties for synthetic sandwich
composite beam with honeycomb cores. Our previous studies
[16,17] have shown that both bending stiffness and the core’s spe-
cific shear modulus (G/q) are two important property criteria
which are found to have a direct correlation with acoustic perfor-
mance; therefore both criteria will be analyzed this study.
In order to obtain wave number data, a frequency response
function must be measured at multiple, uniform points along the
beam. Our experimentation takes 64 points, which will provide
for a clear response when the data is transformed into the wave
number domain. Also, taking 64 data points will help with mitigat-
ing any minor, local manufacturing flaws for a beam of 505 mm in
length. Such a number of data points corresponds to one data mea-
surement every 6.5 mm along the beam; some distance is left on
each end of the beam near the clamps to avoid any residual vibra-
tion. These data give the vibration amplitude as a function of spa-
tial location along the beam, and frequency. By applying a Fourier
transform to the data, the domain changes from spatial (x) and fre-
quency (x) to wave number (k) and frequency (x). The purpose of
performing such a method is that wave number is related to wave
speed (c) by the following formula:
x
k¼ ð1Þ
c
Since the wave number amplitude is a function of two variables,
wave number and frequency, the data can be represented by a sur-
face plot. However, the data is often represented by a two-dimen-
sional contour plot; the purpose of viewing the data in this form is
to obtain a dispersion plot. A dispersion plot can be seen by plot-
ting the peak amplitudes in the contour plot; see Fig. 2 for a con-
tour plot, this one in particular is the cotton face sheet with
balsa wood core.
As mentioned, to evaluate acoustical performance in the wave
number domain, the coincidence frequency must be obtained. To
find the coincidence frequency, one must compare the contour or
dispersion plots with the speed of sound, which is the dashed line
in Fig. 2. The intersection of the data points and the speed of sound
line occurs at the frequency where the wave speeds become super-
sonic; hence, this frequency is the coincidence frequency [15–17]
The coincidence frequency of the cotton face sheet with balsa
wood core beam is found to be around 2400 Hz as seen in Fig. 2.
The experiment setup involves placing the beam in a clamped–
clamped condition, and using pads and a vibration isolation table
to mitigate outside noise. Using an electrodynamic shaker, the
beam is subjected to random vibrations up to 4 kHz, in which
the input force is measured by an impedance head, and the output
acceleration is measured by an accelerometer. More details regard-
ing the setup can be found elsewhere [16,17].
2.3. Vibration damping measurement
From the same frequency response functions utilized in the
wave number response, resonant frequencies were obtained and
subsequently the lost factors, (g), for each sandwich composite
beam were characterized according to ASTM E756-05 [18]. In order
for a greater number of frequency response measurements, rather
 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544
Fig. 2. Contour plot of wave number domain results for cotton beam with balsa
core.
than using the random vibrational data, each response around the
resonant frequency was recorded using a sinusoidal vibrational
sweep. Such a method provides greater clarity and accuracy over
a random vibration.
2.4. Bending stiffness measurement
Our previous work [16] showed that flexural bending stiffness
is found to be a crucial factor in determining a wave number re-
sponse at frequencies less than 1 kHz. Therefore each beam’s flex-
ural bending stiffness was measured according to ASTM D7250
[19]. Such a method involves placing a beam in a flexural bend,
and using the force–displacement data to calculate the stiffness
values. This study utilized a quarter and third span, four point bend
loadings, using an Instron universal test machine (ElectroPuls
E3000). All data for stiffness calculations was taken from linear
force–displacement data. A summary of the results for the stiffness
values can be seen in Table 2, and will be discussed in Section 4.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Wave number analysis
Fig. 3 shows the results of the wave number analysis; this is
separated by beams with bamboo face sheets (Fig. 3a) and cotton
face sheets (Fig. 3b), and both plots contain carbon fiber with Roha-
cell 51 WF data, for comparison. It is observed that the carbon fiber
with Rohacell core beam has the lowest coincidence frequency of
any beam investigated in this study, having a value of approxi-
mately 1200 Hz. Recall that the coincidence frequency is defined
as the frequency where the wave number data points intersect
the speed of sound (dashed line). By implementing either a cotton
or bamboo face sheet combined with either balsa or pine core, this
increases the coincidence frequency about 100% to 2400 Hz. Cou-
pling a natural fiber face sheet with Rohacell 51 WF core provides
the best improvement, which reaches a coincidence frequency of
roughly 4000 Hz for a 233% increase. It should be noted that for
the experimentation, at least two samples of each beam combina-
tion were measured, each showing near identical dispersion curves
and wave number amplitudes.
As previously mentioned, earlier work [17] discussed the
importance of the core material’s specific shear modulus in terms
of coincidence frequency; it was concluded that the two are inver-
sely proportional to each other. Note that comparing beams of
identical face sheets with different cores, say cotton face sheets
541
Fig. 3. (a) Dispersion plot of beams with bamboo-fiber face sheets, compared with
carbon fiber face sheets. (b) Dispersion plot of beams with cotton-fiber face sheets,
compared with carbon fiber face sheets.
with Rohacell 51 WF, balsa and pine, coincidence frequency im-
proves with a decrease in the core’s specific shear modulus. Those
beams have cores with specific shear moduli of 0.473, 0.663 and
1.053, corresponding to coincidence frequencies of 4000 Hz,
2500 Hz, and 2000 Hz, respectively. This improvement in acoustic
performance is achieved without sacrificing bending stiffness; sur-
prisingly, the natural material based sandwich composites showed
increases in flexural bending stiffness over carbon fiber face sheet
with Rohacell 51 WF ranging from 200% to 350%, as shown in
Table 1.
Secondly, it is equally important to analyze the amplitudes of
the wave number response. These values correlate with the level
of noise which is radiated from the structure, consequently it is
desirable to have these peaks as low as possible. Fig. 4 summa-
rizes these results for four selected beams in this study. Fig. 4a is
the baseline, which is carbon fiber with Rohacell 51 WF. By
switching the face sheet to a natural material, such as bamboo,
a response is generated as seen in Fig. 4b. Note that the ampli-
tudes are reduced slightly, averaging 10–20% reductions over the
4000 Hz range. However replacing the Rohacell 51 WF core with
either balsa or pine reduces the amplitudes significantly; Fig. 4c
and d shows the wave number amplitudes for cotton with balsa
and bamboo with pine, respectively. Note how these amplitudes
are significantly reduced compared to Fig. 4a, up to 75% at
542 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544

Fig. 4. (a) Wave number amplitude comparison for carbon fiber beam with Rohacell 51 WF core. (b) Wave number amplitude comparison for bamboo-fiber beam with
Rohacell 51 WF core. (c) Wave number amplitude comparison for cotton-fiber beam with balsa core. (d) Wave number amplitude comparison for bamboo-fiber beam with
pine core.

frequencies throughout the 4000 Hz range. Thus replacing
synthetic materials with natural materials shows significantly
improved noise reduction and still similar (and even improved)
bending stiffness values.
It is also important to analyze the overall mass of the struc-
ture, since many engineering designs are weight-critical. For a
fair comparison, the ratio of stiffness-to-mass is analyzed for
all the beams in the study, as some beams contained a higher
stiffness but also a higher mass. These results are shown in Ta-
ble 2; beams with the highest stiffness-to-mass ratios would be
the most ideal materials to use in engineering designs. While
the carbon fiber beam with Rohacell 51 WF core has a ratio
of 1794, utilizing the bamboo face sheets has a stiffness ratio
of 1449, which is a 19% decrease. However, the improvement
in coincidence frequency from these two beams is quite sub-
stantial, at approximately 233%, along with having reduced
wave number amplitudes. While the beams do not have identi-
cal stiffness-to-mass ratios, it can be expected that if the beams
had similar ratios, an improvement in coincidence frequency
can be observed, but it would not be as much as 233%. More-
over as mentioned in the introduction, natural material based
sandwich composites are used often as secondary structures,
such that they do not need to carry a large percentage of the
stresses. Thus a slight reduction in stiffness may be acceptable
for certain applications.
Although other beams have lower ratios, but in comparing their
relative ratios more improvements in acoustic performance can be
seen, especially when switching from Rohacell cores to natural
cores. Looking at the cotton beam with Rohacell core, switching
to a pine core reduces the stiffness to mass ratio only 3.65%, but
reductions of wave number amplitudes up to 50–60% are achieved.
Similar results are seen for bamboo-based beams; switching from
Rohacell to pine wood is an 11% reduction in stiffness-to-mass
for similar (50–60%) reductions in wave number amplitudes. Thus
the level of noise radiation is substantially reduced with minimal
sacrifices in bending stiffness when switching to a pine core
material.
Kurtze and Watters [20] developed an analytical model to pre-
dict the dispersion curves of symmetric sandwich beams. As the
vibrational response of a beam is dominated by different modes
in certain frequency ranges, three equations (Eqs. (2)–(4)) are
needed to completely predict the dispersion curve. ks represents
the waver number contributed by the shearing of the core, kb rep-
resents the wave number contributed the flexural bending, and kbf
 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544 543

represents the wave number contributed by the bending of the

face sheet.
2 mx2
ks ¼ ð2Þ
Gd

4 mx2
kb ¼ ð3Þ
D1

4 mx2
kbf ¼ ð4Þ
2D2

2 3
Ed h Eh
D1 ¼ D2 ¼
2ð1  m2 Þ 12ð1  m2 Þ
where G is the shear modulus of the core, d is the core depth, m is
the mass per unit area, x is the frequency (Hz), k is the wave num-
ber, E is the longitudinal (E1) modulus of the face sheet, h is the
thickness of the face sheet, and m is the Poisson ratio of the face
sheet (taken as 0.3). In this model it is assumed that the beam is
one-dimensional, only the value of E1 (the laminate’s longitudinal
modulus) is needed. Previous work [16,17] shows the models ap-
plied to sandwich composite beams, also concluding that the face
sheet bending wave number (kbf) does not affect vibrational proper-
ties in the 4 kHz range.
From this model, it is possible to see the effects of the different
properties on wave number domains; for example, mass (m), face
sheet thickness (h), and face sheet modulus (E1). As composite
materials are non homogenous, the value of E1 can be affected by
many variables, such as the moduli of the fibers and resin, the fiber
volume fraction, and fiber lay-up orientation. Moreover, the pro-
cessing quality and craftsmanship can affect the overall properties
of a structure. While this study uses two different resin types, fiber
orientations, and face sheet thicknesses, the purpose of such is to
compare the natural fiber beams to synthetic materials which are
commonly used in applications. The carbon fiber face sheets which
are fabricated by the M.C. Gill Corporation and are currently used
in commercial aircraft and thus provide an excellent baseline
material. Moreover, the properties of thermoset resins are gener-
ally similar at room temperature, and would have little effect on
Fig. 5. (a) Damping results for bamboo-fiber face sheets, compared to carbon fiber
changing the overall modulus of the composite laminate, which
with Rohacell 51 WF core. Error bars represent a 95% confidence interval. (b)
largely depends upon the modulus of the fiber. However utilizing Damping results for cotton-fiber face sheets, compared to carbon fiber with
this analytical model, along with the knowledge of vibrations Rohacell 51 WF core. Error bars represent a 95% confidence interval.
and sandwich structures, it can (and has been) concluded that
three key variables control vibrations, which are bending stiffness, throughout the 4500 Hz vibrational frequency range, as opposed
core shear modulus, and mass. This is why the aforementioned to those with bamboo face sheets, whose values appear to have
stiffness-to-mass and specific shear modulus values are critical in more deviation from each other. Interestingly, the three beams
evaluating a wave number analysis; although a quantity such as with Rohacell 51 cores had similar damping values, confirming
stiffness-to-mass is a product of many properties, the actual stiff- that the properties of the core material mainly influence damping
ness value itself is what is key for such an analysis. values [17,21]. The four beams with either balsa or pine core had
different damping trends within with same range of values (i.e.
3.2. Damping analysis g = 0.01–0.05). This could be attributed to the non-homogeneity
of balsa and pine resulting from the highly anisotropic cells’ struc-
As per ASTM E756-05 [18], structural loss factors were deter- tural arrangement. More study on such a topic, which is beyond
mined for all of the sandwich composite beams in this study. the scope of this study, is suggested for better understanding of
Fig. 5 shows all of these results, with Fig. 5a displaying results of the structural damping response of the natural material based
the beams with bamboo face sheets, and Fig. 5b showing the re- sandwich composite beams [22].
sults of cotton face sheet beams; all error bars represent 95% con-
fidence intervals. Most importantly, with the exception of the 4. Conclusions
bamboo face sheet with pine core, is that all beams experienced
similar damping value to the carbon fiber beam with Rohacell 51 By using natural fiber based composite materials, it is possible
WF core, showing that structural damping is not sacrificed when to create a sandwich beam with superior acoustic performance,
switching to a natural material based sandwich composite. Both without minimal sacrifices in stiffness-to-weight ratios. It is exper-
Fig. 5a and b shows similar damping profiles in that they are par- imentally observed that by using natural fiber face sheets with a
abolic in nature; this trend was also observed in our earlier work balsa core, a doubling of coincidence frequency is achieved, and
[16,17] as well as by Nilsson [21]. However, in contrast, those utilizing natural fiber face sheets with a synthetic core more than
beams with cotton face sheets had similar damping values triples the coincidence frequency in a sandwich composite beam.
544 J.J. Sargianis et al. / Composite Structures 96 (2013) 538–544
Moreover core materials with low specific shear modulus corre-
spond to sandwich composites with improved acoustic perfor-
mance. Although damping values of the natural materials based
sandwich composites remain similar to the traditional synthetic
sandwich composite beams, the magnitude of noise radiation as
observed through wave number amplitudes are substantially de-
creased using natural materials. Thus this study shows a promise
for the utilization of natural materials to allow for environmentally
friendly sandwich composite materials which are be renewable,
recyclable, and biodegradable, while also provide a solution to
the sandwich structure-noise radiation problem.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the University of Delaware for
financial support, Dr. Hongbin Shen at the M.C. Gill Corporation for
providing materials, and Kyung Bin Lee for assistance with com-
posing the figures.
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