Ceramics International 46 (2020) 22699–22708

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Ceramics International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ceramint

Sound absorption performance of a lightweight ceramic foam T

∗
J.H. Chen, P.S. Liu , J.X. Sun
Key Laboratory of Beam Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Porous materials can be effective for sound absorption and noise reduction. A kind of lightweight cellular
Porous material ceramic foam with bulk density of 0.38–0.56 g cm-3 was successfully prepared by conventional molding with
Ceramic foam pore forming agent. The porosity is from 76.4% to 83.7% for the sample with relatively large pores (the average
Sound absorption pore size: 5.3–5.6 mm), and from 74.1% to 81.1% for the sample with relatively small pores (the average pore
size: 1.5–1.7 mm). The effects were investigated for processing parameters on the structure of samples, and for
the pore size, sample thickness and porosity on the sound absorption performance of samples. The results show
that the absorption performance of the ceramic foam product with relatively large pores may be superior to that
with relatively small pores in the case of the approximately same porosity. The first absorption peak moves from
a higher frequency to a lower frequency with the increase of sample thickness. When the porosity increases, the
average sound absorption coefficient increases for all of the samples, and the first absorption peak moves from a
higher frequency to a lower frequency for the sample with relatively large pores but does not change for that
with relatively small pores.

1. Introduction
Great progresses have been made in industry, transportation and
construction, but people have to face up to increasing environmental
pollution arose with the economic development. Noise pollution has
seriously affected people's everyday life, so more and more researchers
have begun to study the sound absorption material, which is effective to
relieve the noise [1,2].
The sound experiences three stages from being produced to being
received by the human ear: the generation of sound from the sound
source, the propagation of sound in the medium and the reception of
sound by the receiver. Accordingly, the receiver can be protected by
installing some devices near the sound source to interrupt the sound
wave propagation. Both of sound insulation and sound absorption are
mainly adopted in engineering. The sound insulation does not reduce
the sound energy but prevent the sound waves from propagating to the
receiver by means of special materials. Different from this, the sound
absorption is using porous materials. As sound waves travel to the
porous material, part of them will enter the pores. Due to the viscous
friction between the air and the material surface in the pore, the sound
energy is partially transformed to thermal energy, which can achieve
the purpose of “sound absorption” [3].
Usually, the specially structured material or framework is used to
absorb noise. Sound absorption materials, with the average absorption
coefficient more than 0.2, can be used for efficiently controlling the
noise [2]. Porous materials may present appropriate properties for a
number of engineering applications [2–4]. These materials, including
the inorganic foam, polymer foam and metallic foam, are often used to
absorb the sound energy and decrease the noise in engineering
[2,3,5–10]. The sound absorption effect of porous materials can be
predicted when the specific acoustic impedance of the material is
known, and the related calculated results indicate the Allard and
Champoux's method could reach the best prediction accuracy for the
wool materials [3]. While, the sound absorption characteristic of a
sintered porous ceramic material (the main composition:
(Na,K)4CaAl6Si30O72), with the bulk density of 0.5–0.7 g/cm3 and pore
size of 1.0–3.0 mm, is found to be roughly in agreement with Johnson-
Allard model [8]. In another study on the sound absorption property of
a ceramic hollow sphere structure with micro-sized open cell, the cal-
culated results based on Pride-Allard model and experimental data
demonstrated similar trend with the increase of frequency [5]. Inter-
estingly, research on the acoustic sound attenuation for a natural
porous structure of seafloor sand sediment reveals the attenuation
coefficient can either increase or decrease with temperature depending
on the frequency range being examined [6]. Meaningfully, the acoustic
absorbency of SiC foam under water can be significantly improved by
filling silicon oil in the pore of the sample at 750–4000 Hz, but the
foams backed by air gap and saturated fully by water display degraded

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Liu996@263.net (P.S. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.06.033
Received 30 April 2020; Received in revised form 22 May 2020; Accepted 3 June 2020
Available online 23 June 2020
0272-8842/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.
J.H. Chen, et al.
sound absorption capacity [7]. A novel sort of cellular titanium foam
with 86%–90% porosity and millimeter-scaled pores showed a good
performance of sound absorption, with the absorption coefficient more
than 0.6 at 3150–6300 Hz and even exceed 0.9 at the resonance fre-
quency, and the main mechanism of sound absorption for this foam
should be of the interference silencing or the viscous dissipation in
different ranges of sound wave frequency [9]. The sound absorption is
investigated for an aluminium foam (with porosity of 60%–90% and
pore size of 0.5–3.5 mm) produced by press infiltration casting in Ref.
[10], and the results show that the absorption coefficient associates
mathematically with the frequency corresponding to the sound wave
and the sound absorption peak, and also with the specific surface area
of the sample.
The ceramic foam is a class of porous inorganic materials, of which
the property is related not only to the composition of the material
species, but also closely to the porosity, pore structure, pore size and
pore distribution [11–16]. For example, the study on sound absorption
of a ceramsite porous material (with the porosity of 15%–35% and pore
size of 0.71–1.44 mm) has shown that the porosity has a significant
impact on the high-frequency sound absorption [15].
From related works that have been reported, it can be known the
abundant researches on sound absorption materials have brought an
unceasing development of improved products with excellent perfor-
mance. However, there are still some areas that need to be further
developed, which means, for instance, various developing directions of
sound absorption materials:
(1) Environment-friendly sound absorption materials. With the im-
provement of people's life quality, the research should be empha-
sized on environment-friendly sound absorption materials. People
should adhere to the principle of environmental protection from
raw materials and final products. Especially, non-toxic and tasteless
sound absorption materials should be used to absorb sound and
reduce noise.
(2) Multifunctional sound absorption materials. It is hoped that a spe-
cial material of both heat insulation and sound absorption can be
used in some special places, such as in steel mills. The material is
also hoped to possess many other excellent properties, such as fire
resistance, flame retardant, waterproof, anti-corrosion and even
aesthetic requirements. Such multifunctional sound absorption
materials can be competitively in practical applications and in
saving the overall cost.
(3) Composite-type sound absorption materials. The composite sound
absorption material has a wide range of sound absorption fre-
quencies, which can effectively absorb sound at low and inter-
mediate frequencies.
Fig. 1. Ceramic foam samples with different pore sizes: (a) with relatively large pores; (b) with relatively small pores.
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2. Experimental methods
2.1. Preparation of the sample
Natural zeolite powder was thoroughly mixed with the binder and
additive agents, and then added the self-made pore forming agent to
produce the ceramic foam by means of molding, drying and sintering.
The natural clinoptilolite (Na8[Al8Si40O96]·39H2O) powder with gran-
ularity of about 10–20 μm was used as the main raw material, mixed
with the self-made nontoxic binder (for example, the jellylike matter
from modulating the potato starch and solvent) and some additives
(such as ammonium bicarbonate) including silica powder with the
granularity of about 30–50 μm in a certain proportion.
(1) Ingredients matching: The above mixture was fully mechanically
stirred and stood for 60 min, then added some pore forming agent
and further mixed well. The pore forming agent is spherically and
may be divided into two classes: one is 4–5 mm and the other is
1–2 mm in diameter. The ceramic foam with relatively large pores
was prepared by using the larger sized pore forming agent and that
with relatively small pores by using the smaller sized pore forming
agent. The content of pore forming agent determines the porosity of
ceramic foams. When this content is excess, the molding of the
ceramic foam sample would be difficult; and when it is too little, the
porosity would be too low to decrease the sound absorption of the
porous product. Therefore, it was particularly important to de-
termine the content of pore forming agent.
(2) Compressive molding: The ceramic foam preform was prepared by
compressive molding in this experiment. The slurry from the binder
and additive agents was poured into a mold and applied a certain
pressure for 10 min, and then the resultant wet preform sample
could be taken out from the mold to dry. The investigation was
carried out in the sound frequency range of 200–4000 Hz. With the
JTBZ sound absorption coefficient testing system, the sound ab-
sorption coefficient was measured using the circular samples with
different diameters for different frequency ranges [2]. The diameter
of samples should be 100 mm at 200–2000 Hz and 50 mm at
2500–4000 Hz, respectively. Corresponding to this, the size of the
mold could be designed.
(3) Drying and sintering: The ceramic foam preform was firstly placed
at room temperature for 10 h in order to prevent the cracking from
rapid drying in a constant temperature box, into which it was then
putted to dry at a relatively low temperature of 60–80 °C for 12 h.
The SX-G36163 high-temperature electric furnace was used to
sinter the ceramic foam. The heat treatment process was increasing
the temperature at a rate of 20 °C/min up to 1150–1200 °C, at
which the sample was sintered for 60 min and cooled down to the
room temperature in the furnace. Fig. 1 shows the sintered samples
of the lightweight ceramic foam after grinding to achieve the
J.H. Chen, et al. Ceramics International 46 (2020) 22699–22708

Fig. 2. JTZB sound absorption coefficient test

system.

desired shape with the demanded size. D ≈ L/0.616 (5)

where L is the average chord length.

2.2. Property characterization
2.2.5. Determination of the sound absorption coefficient
2.2.1. Determination of the bulk density
The sound absorption coefficient is the most important parameter to
The bulk density is the ratio of the material mass to the total volume
characterize the sound absorption performance of porous materials. It is
(the sum of the solid volume and the pore volume) of the sample.
defined as the ratio of the absorbed sound energy by the material to the
Grinding the sample into a regular cylinder by sandpaper, the diameter
total incident sound energy [1]:
L and the height H may be easily measured, giving the bulk density as:
E1 − E2
4M1 α=
ρV = E1 (6)
πL2H (1)
where E1 and E2 are the incident sound energy and the reflected sound
where M1 is the mass of the sample.
energy, respectively, with the unit of dB. Generally, the sound ab-
sorption coefficient is between 0 and 1, and it is closer to 1 to indicate a
2.2.2. Determination of the porosity
better sound absorption performance.
The porosity of porous materials is the ratio of the total pore volume
The one third octave method is common to measure the sound ab-
to the total sample volume. Too high and too low porosities are neither
sorption coefficient (Fig. 2). When the sound waves generated by the
conducive to improving the sound absorption performance of porous
speakers are reflected on the surface of the sample, an acoustic standing
materials. When the porosity is too high, there may be only a small part
wave field will be formed in the standing wave tube. The maximum
of sound waves to have viscous effect with pore walls and a large part to
value LM (dB) and the minimum value Lm (dB) of the sound pressure
pass through the porous material without absorption. When the por-
level in the standing wave field are acquired by moving the test car,
osity is too low, most of the incident sound waves will be reflected on
which can determine the axial incident sound absorption coefficient α
the material surface, which cannot enter the pore to absorb. There are a
of the material [2]:
number of methods to measuring the porosity [2], and in this work the
calculating formula is used as follows: 4 × 10 (LM − Lm)/20
α=
(1 + 10 (LM − Lm)/20)2 (7)
ρ
θ = ⎜⎛1 − 0 ⎟⎞ × 100%
ρs ⎠ (2) During the measurement, the first minimum value of Lm (dB) was
⎝
got and recorded by slowly moving the test car from the limit left to the
where ρ0 is the apparent bulk density of the ceramic foam, ρs is the bulk right. Continually moving the test car to the right, the first maximum
density of the dense ceramic species, and θ is the porosity of the sample. value of LM (dB) could be then found. Substituting the minimum value
and the maximum value into equation (7), the sound absorption coef-
2.2.3. Determination of the linear change rate ficient could be finally obtained at the experimental frequency. There
The linear change rate can characterize the relative size change of are 14 center frequency points need be tested by using the one third
ceramic foam samples before and after sintering, which is called the octave method in this work: 200 Hz, 250 Hz, 315 Hz, 400 Hz, 500 Hz,
transverse linear change rate σc in the diameter change and the 630 Hz, 800 Hz, 1000 Hz, 1250 Hz, 1600 Hz, 2000 Hz, 2500 Hz,
lengthwise linear change rate σl in the axial size change. All the samples 3150 Hz and 4000 Hz.
are regularly cylindrical in this work, and the linear change rate can be
calculated as follows: 3. Results and analysis
L − L0
σc = × 100%
L0 (3) 3.1. Basic parameters of the ceramic foam

h − h0 Some ceramic foam samples with different structure parameters

σl = × 100%
h0 (4) were prepared by changing the sintering process conditions, which are
shown in Tables 1 and 2.
where L0 and L are the diameters of samples before and after sintering,
respectively; h0 and h are the heights of samples before and after sin-
tering, respectively. The linear change rate is positive when the sample 3.2. Influence of sintering process on the sample properties
expands after sintering, and otherwise it is negative.
3.2.1. Linear change rate
This work only studies the transverse linear change rate for ceramic
2.2.4. Determination of the average pore size
foam samples before and after sintering, since the relative error of
The average pore size is an important parameter for ceramic foams.
measuring the lengthwise linear change rate is relatively large. Samples
Before testing this parameter, the sample was firstly grinded into a flat
1–6 in Table 3 are ceramic foam products with relatively small pores
plate. After cleaning and drying the sample, the cross-section was ob-
that are prepared by the pore forming agent particle with the size of
served by a microscope, and measured the chord length of pores as
1–2 mm, and Samples 7–12 in Table 4 are ceramic foam products with
much as possible to calculate the average value. Accordingly, the
relatively large pores that are prepared by the pore forming agent
average pore size D can be expressed as:
particle with the size of 4–5 mm. The data in both of these two tables

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Table 1 there will be a short cessation period of pore growth when it achieves a
Elementary parameters of samples with relatively small pores by different balance between the internal and external air pressures. In the last
sintering processes. stage, this short balance period ends, the air pressure inside pores
Sample No. Sintering Sintering Bulk Porosity/% Average continues to decrease and the surface tension continues to increase,
temperature/ period/ density/ pore size/ leading these pores to shrink and the relatively large pore to become
°C min g·cm-3 mm smaller or split into two smaller pores. All these three stages need spend
a certain time, and the higher temperature makes a shorter period for
1 1150 60 0.56 74.1 1.57
2 1170 60 0.55 74.7 1.61 the early and the second stages. When the sintering temperature is
3 1190 60 0.43 79.9 1.64 higher, the crystal water contained in natural zeolite will vaporize
4 1190 20 0.50 76.8 1.60 faster, so the vitrification degree of zeolite becomes higher. In this
5 1190 40 0.46 78.9 1.63
sintering process, the viscosity of ceramic sample increases, the va-
6 1200 60 0.43 80.0 1.64
porized crystal water produces more secondary pores, and the pore size
becomes larger. This makes the expansion coefficient of ceramic sample
Table 2 increase at a higher sintering temperature. As the sintering temperature
Elementary parameters of samples with relatively large pores by different sin- continually increases, the viscosity also continually increases, so the
tering processes. surface tension further increases and the pore continues to shrink.
Therefore, it isn't that the higher temperature can make a greater
Sample No. Sintering Sintering Bulk Porosity/% Average
temperature/ period/ density/ pore size/
transverse linear change rate. When the temperature goes up to higher
°C min g·cm-3 mm than a certain point, the transverse linear change rate will remain
constant.
7 1150 60 0.51 76.4 5.31 At the same sintering temperature, the transverse linear change rate
8 1170 60 0.46 78.8 5.39
9 1190 60 0.38 82.4 5.52
of the sample will increase when the sintering period extends, and it
10 1190 20 0.43 80.1 5.43 may arrive at 15.9% for all samples sintered at 1190 °C for 60 min. The
11 1190 40 0.40 81.6 5.47 most efficient heat process should occur in the third stage, when the
12 1200 60 0.38 82.3 5.50 liquid phase with appropriate viscosity can be generated to keep a
balance between the surface tension and the air pressure in the pore. In
this case, the pore size may be constantly modified to form a complete
Table 3 pore structure.
Transverse linear change rate of samples with relatively small pores before and
after sintering.
3.2.2. Microstructure
Sample No. Sintering Sintering Diameter Diameter Transverse Fig. 3 shows the SEM image of ceramic foam samples sintered at
temperature/ period/ before after linear
different temperatures for 60 min, by using the pore forming agent with
°C min sintering/ sintering/ change
mm mm rate/%
the smaller size of 1–2 mm. It can be seen that the pores in the sample
could be divided into two classes at different levels: one is the primary
1 1150 60 63 67 6.3 pore (macropore) that is caused by the pore forming agent, referring to
2 1170 60 63 68 7.9 point a shown in Fig. 3(a), (b) and (c); and the other is the secondary
3 1190 60 63 73 15.9
4 1190 20 63 69 9.5
pore (micropore) that is produced by the action of additive agent and
5 1190 40 63 71 12.7 the volatilization of crystal water contained in zeolite, referring to point
6 1200 60 63 73 15.9 b shown in Fig. 3(a), (b) and (c). When the sintering temperature rises
from 1150 °C to 1190 °C, the wall of primary pores becomes smooth
gradually. As the temperature rises, the liquid phase produced in zeolite
Table 4 increases and the evaporated crystal water cannot run out from the
Transverse linear change rate of samples with relatively large pores before and zeolite in time, which causes the secondary pore in the primary pore
after sintering. wall to be larger and the shape to change from irregular at 1150 °C
Sample No. Sintering Sintering Diameter Diameter Transverse (Fig. 3a) to roughly spherical at 1190 °C (Fig. 3c).
temperature/ period/ before after linear
°C min sintering/ sintering/ change
3.2.3. XRD analysis
mm mm rate/%
Fig. 4 shows the XRD patterns of ceramic foam samples sintered at
7 1150 60 63 67 6.3 different temperatures (1150 °C, 1170 °C and 1190 °C) for 60 min.
8 1170 60 63 69 9.5 These patterns are for the powder from grinding the foam sample, so
9 1190 60 63 73 15.9 they include all the phases contained in the sample. From this figure, it
10 1190 20 63 70 11.1
11 1190 40 63 72 14.3
can be seen that the zeolite phase disappeares and the albite phase
12 1200 60 63 73 15.9 appeares in the foam sample after sintering. The phase compositions of
these three samples are basically the same, but their intensity of char-
acteristic peaks decreases obviously with the raise of sintering tem-
display an evident change in the size of the samples before and after perature, indicating the amorphous phase formed more easily at the
sintering at different temperatures for different periods. With the same higher sintering temperature. Fig. 5 shows the XRD patterns of ceramic
sintering period, the transverse linear change rate of samples will in- foam samples sintered at 1190 °C for different periods (20 min, 40 min,
crease when the sintering temperature goes up, but the increasing rate and 60 min). It also reveals the basically same characteristic peaks for
gradually slows down and finally tends stable. In the early stage of these three samples. The intensity of characteristic peaks gradually
sintering, there is relatively high air pressure in the pore and the gen- decreases as the sintering period increases from 20 min to 60 min, in-
erated liquid phase is a little to result in a relatively small surface dicating more amorphous phase formed at the same sintering tem-
tension, so those pores expand rapidly and become connected with each perature of 1190 °C for a longer period. More importantly, carbon from
other. In the second stage, the air pressure decreases in the pore due to the decomposition of pore-forming agent is found to become less and
the continually connected pores and some fractured pores. The surface less with the increase of the sintering period by SEM observation.
tension continually increases with the increase of liquid phase, and then Several experiments all showed that the pore-forming agent could be

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Fig. 3. SEM images of ceramic foam samples prepared at different sintering temperatures from the pore forming agent with the smaller size of 1–2 mm: (a) 1150 °C/
60min; (b) 1170 °C/60min; (c) 1190 °C/60min.
Fig. 4. XRD pattern of ceramic foam samples sintered at different temperatures
for 60 min.
Fig. 5. XRD pattern of ceramic foam samples sintered at 1190 °C for different
periods.
completely decomposed and volatilized to leave no carbon in the
sample when the sample was sintered at 1150 °C–1190 °C for 60 min, so
this period of 60 min may be regarded as the optimal sintering period.
3.2.4. Porosity
Fig. 6 shows the change curve of porosity for ceramic foam samples
sintered at different temperatures. Sintering at higher temperature in
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Fig. 6. Influence of the sintering temperature on the porosity of ceramic foam
samples.
the range of 1150 °C–1190 °C for the same sintering period, the sample
will achieve a higher porosity, with the lower porosity for the sintering
temperature at 1200 °C than that at 1190 °C. This indicates an optimal
sintering temperature at 1190 °C for achieving the maximum porosity.
The change trend of the porosity shown in Fig. 6 agrees to that of
the transverse linear change rate, which reveals that there is a re-
lationship between these two parameters of the ceramic foam. Also,
such change can be explained by the expansion mechanism of zeolite,
as mentioned above.
Fig. 7 shows the change curve of the porosity of ceramic foam
samples sintered at 1190 °C for different periods. In this figure, it can be
seen that the porosity of samples always increases with the increase of
sintering period and reaches the maximum value of 82.4% under the
optimized process (with the sintering temperature of 1190 °C and the
sintering period of 60 min). The experimental results suggest again that
the optimal sintering period should be 60 min in this work.
3.2.5. Pore size distribution
Pore size is another important parameter of porous materials, and it
can be characterized by the maximum pore size, pore size distribution
and average pore size. In this work, the pore size of ceramic foams has a
relatively narrow distribution, so the average pore size could be rea-
sonable to use as an effective research parameter, which can be cal-
culated by using the optical microscope to directly observe and measure
the pores in the cross-section [2]. The average chord length (L) of pores
in the cross-section is read or marked through a microscope or micro-
photograph and then is converted to the average pore size (D). Finally,
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Table 6
Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively small pores.
Frequency (Hz) 1 2 3 4 5 Average value

200 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.064

250 0.08 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.06 0.074
315 0.08 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.078
400 0.10 0.08 0.10 0.08 0.09 0.090
500 0.13 0.11 0.10 0.10 0.11 0.110
630 0.15 0.15 0.12 0.12 0.15 0.138
800 0.22 0.20 0.14 0.10 0.21 0.174
1000 0.30 0.16 0.13 0.15 0.19 0.186
1250 0.28 0.28 0.25 0.22 0.30 0.266
1600 0.40 0.40 0.47 0.45 0.40 0.424
2000 0.32 0.36 0.36 0.50 0.54 0.416
2500 0.39 0.60 0.74 0.36 0.60 0.538
3150 0.40 0.45 0.33 0.45 0.61 0.448
4000 0.77 0.76 0.76 0.80 0.78 0.774

Fig. 7. Influence of the sintering period on the porosity of ceramic foam sam-
ples.

the average pore size is calculated to be about 5.52 mm for the sample
with relatively large pores and about 1.64 mm for the sample with
relatively small pores, respectively.

3.3. Analysis of factors affecting the sound absorption coefficient of ceramic

foams

The optimal sintering process (with the sintering temperature of

1190 °C and the sintering period of 60 min) was used to prepare the
ceramic foam samples, and the effects of pore size, porosity, and
thickness of samples have been investigated on the sound absorption
coefficient.

3.3.1. Pore size

Fig. 8. Sound absorption performance of the ceramic foam.
Two classes of ceramic foam samples with different pore size levels
and the same thickness of 10 mm are selected to conduct the research:
the sample with relatively large pores has the porosity of 82.4% and the in this frequency range. In the whole experimental frequency range, the
average pore size of 5.52 mm, and that with relatively small pores has sound absorption of samples with relatively large pores could be su-
the porosity of 79.9% and the average pore size of 1.64 mm. The sound perior to that with relatively small pores. This is because the relatively
absorption coefficient was measured by the 1/3-octave method of large sized pores are easily connected effectively with adjacent pores, in
standing wave tube, of which the data results are listed in Tables 5 and which more sound waves can propagate favourably to convert more
6, with the correspondingly contrastive curves shown in Fig. 8. In order sound energy into thermal energy due to the viscous effect. On the
to reduce the experimental error, 5 samples are tested for each class of contrary, the effective permeability of pores is inferior in the sample
ceramic foam to take the average value of the sound absorption coef- with relatively small pores for sound waves at 200–4000 Hz, which
ficients. brings a relatively poor performance of sound absorption.
Fig. 8 shows the sound absorption coefficient of porous samples is In fact, neither too large nor too small pores are conducive to the
less than 0.2 in the frequency range of 200–1000 Hz, so the sound improvement of the sound absorption performance of porous materials.
absorption performance may be deemed to be poor for all the samples According to the Huygens' principle, when sound waves propagate to
the surface of porous materials, some of them will be reflected on the
Table 5 surface of the material and the other will enter the pores of porous
Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively large pores. materials to cause the air vibration and friction with the pore walls.
Frequency (Hz) 1 2 3 4 5 Average value
Owing to the viscous effect and the heat conduction, as well as the
interference silencing, the sound energy translates into the heat energy
200 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.07 0.07 0.076 to loss [1].
250 0.06 0.10 0.06 0.11 0.07 0.080
315 0.08 0.09 0.07 0.10 0.09 0.086
400 0.09 0.10 0.07 0.11 0.12 0.098 3.3.2. Porosity
500 0.13 0.13 0.06 0.12 0.17 0.122 By the optimal process of sintering at 1190 °C for 60 min, as men-
630 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.20 0.21 0.174
tioned above, the 10 mm thick samples were prepared with different
800 0.19 0.20 0.15 0.18 0.23 0.190
1000 0.19 0.16 0.20 0.20 0.27 0.204 volume fractions of pore-forming agent to achieve various porosities
1250 0.22 0.25 0.25 0.29 0.48 0.298 (Table 7), and the influence of porosity was studied on the sound ab-
1600 0.31 0.43 0.26 0.48 0.53 0.402 sorption performance of the resultant ceramic foam samples.
2000 0.54 0.65 0.53 0.61 0.63 0.592 Both Table 8 and Fig. 9 show the influence of porosity on the sound
2500 0.62 0.88 0.60 0.59 0.63 0.664
absorption performance of the sample with relatively large pores. It can
3150 0.55 0.53 0.89 0.64 0.64 0.650
4000 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.88 0.88 0.858 be seen that the first absorption peak appears at the frequency of
2500 Hz, and the sound absorption coefficient is correspondingly 0.61

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Table 7 Table 9
Porosity (%)/Average pore size (mm) corresponding to the ceramic foam. Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively small pores.
Sample Volume fraction of pore-forming agent Frequency (Hz) 76.6% 79.9% 81.1%

40% 50% 60% 200 0.06 0.06 0.06

250 0.08 0.07 0.07
With relatively large pores 78.3/5.53 82.4/5.52 83.7/5.50 315 0.10 0.08 0.08
With relatively small pores 76.6/1.61 79.9/1.64 81.1/1.65 400 0.11 0.09 0.10
500 0.10 0.11 0.14
630 0.12 0.14 0.17
800 0.16 0.17 0.16
Table 8
1000 0.17 0.19 0.21
Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively large pores.
1250 0.18 0.27 0.29
Frequency (Hz) 78.3% 82.4% 83.7% 1600 0.30 0.42 0.33
2000 0.41 0.42 0.42
200 0.07 0.08 0.08 2500 0.57 0.54 0.56
250 0.07 0.08 0.10 3150 0.35 0.45 0.52
315 0.08 0.09 0.11 4000 0.76 0.77 0.78
400 0.09 0.08 0.12 Average 0.25 0.27 0.28
500 0.10 0.12 0.16
630 0.14 0.17 0.22
800 0.15 0.19 0.24
1000 0.20 0.20 0.29
1250 0.23 0.30 0.53
1600 0.26 0.40 0.58
2000 0.45 0.59 0.49
2500 0.61 0.66 0.54
3150 0.60 0.65 0.60
4000 0.80 0.86 0.65
Average 0.28 0.32 0.34

Fig. 10. Influence of the porosity on sound absorption performance of the

sample with relatively small pores.

performance of the sample with relatively small pores. It can be seen

Fig. 9. Influence of the porosity on sound absorption performance of the sample
with relatively large pores.
and 0.66 for samples with porosity of 78.3% and 82.4%. These samples
displayed excellent sound absorption performance in the intermediate
frequency region of 2000–4000 Hz, and the maximum sound absorption
coefficient reaches 0.80 for the sample of 78.3% porosity and 0.86 for
the sample of 82.4% porosity, respectively. When the porosity reaches
up to 83.7%, the first absorption peak moves to the relatively low
frequency of 1600 Hz, at which the sound absorption coefficient is 0.58.
As the porosity increases, the sample showed the first absorption
peak to move from the higher frequency to the lower frequency. Lower
content of the pore-forming agent makes fewer pores in the sample,
which is not good at sound waves entering into the pores to propagate
in the material. When the content of the used pore-forming agent is too
high, excessive pores will be generated, which severely affects the
mechanical properties of the material and decreases the sound ab-
sorption performance. In short, too high or too low content of pore-
forming agent is not conducive to the sound absorption performance of
samples.
Table 9 and Fig. 10 show the effect of porosity on sound absorption
that samples with different three porosities all present the absorption
peak at 2500 Hz, and the peak value decreases and then increases with
the increase of porosity. In the intermediate frequency region, the
sound absorption performance is gradually improved as the porosity
increases for the sample with relatively small pores, and the maximum
sound absorption coefficient gradually increases from 0.76 to 0.78.
Different from samples with relatively large pores, the first ab-
sorption peak does not move as the porosity increases for samples with
relatively small pores. This is because the pore size is relatively small in
these samples, and the connectivity of pores can not be improved with
the increase of porosity in a certain range.
Fig. 11 displays that the average sound absorption coefficient is
directly proportional to the porosity approximately within a certain
range of porosity. This average coefficient increases from 0.28 to 0.34
when the porosity increases from 78.3% to 83.7% for the sample with
relatively large pores, and it increases from 0.25 to 0.28 when the
porosity increases from 76.6% to 81.1% for the sample with relatively
small pores. This is because more sound waves can enter into the pores
and interact with the pore walls as the porosity increases. However, it is
impossible to improve the sound absorption performance by blindly
increasing the porosity: when the porosity increases, the mechanical
property of the porous material will decrease, and the effective area
available for the pore wall can not keep increasing.
3.3.3. Specific surface area
The specific surface area is a parameter to indirectly reflect the

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Table 11
Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively large pores.
Sound wave Sample thickness: Sample thickness: Sample thickness:
frequency (Hz) 10 mm (one layer) 20 mm (two 30 mm (three
layers) layers)

200 0.08 0.06 0.08

250 0.08 0.06 0.09
315 0.09 0.07 0.12
400 0.10 0.09 0.17
500 0.12 0.11 0.29
630 0.17 0.19 0.64
800 0.19 0.43 0.92
1000 0.20 0.69 0.69
1250 0.30 0.73 0.40
1600 0.40 0.57 0.25
2000 0.59 0.40 0.40
2500 0.66 0.61 0.67
3150 0.65 0.58 0.64
4000 0.86 0.81 0.73
Fig. 11. Influence of the porosity on average sound absorption coefficient of Average 0.32 0.39 0.44
ceramic foam samples.

directly mean an effective action surface of sound waves in the porous

material and the pore structure for porous materials [4]:
KS 1
Sv ≈ ⎡ (1 − θ) 2 − (1 − θ) ⎤⋅(1 − θ)n
d ⎣ ⎦ (8)
where Sv (cm2/cm3) is the surface area per volume for the porous body;
d (mm) is the average pore size and θ (%) is the porosity of the porous
sample, respectively; KS is a material constant to characterize the ma-
terial species and the internal structure; and n is a geometric factor to
describe the structural morphology of the pore in the porous body.
To approximately calculate the specific surface area of the present
cellular ceramic foam samples, the relevant data for the cellular alu-
minum foam from Ref. [4] may be used, taking n = 0.40 and
KS = 281.8 in Equation (8):
281.8 1
Sv ≈ ⎡ (1 − θ) 2 − (1 − θ) ⎤⋅(1 − θ)0.4
d ⎣ ⎦ (9)
With Equation (9), the specific surface area can be calculated for the
ceramic foam sample, and the calculated results are listed in Table 10.
The results show the sample with about the same pore size and the
lower porosity would get a poorer sound absorption performance, in
spite of the slightly larger specific surface area. This indicates the
porosity can play a more important role than the pore-wall surface area
for sound absorption performance of this ceramic foam. More sig-
nificantly, the sample with relatively large pores could get a better
sound absorption performance, in spite of the evidently smaller specific
surface area. This indicates the pore size can play the most important
role for sound absorption performance of the ceramic foam in this work.
It can also be seen that the sample with about 5.53 mm pore size and
about 78.3% porosity may achieve about the same sound absorption
coefficient of 0.28 as that with about 1.65 mm pore size and about
81.1% porosity. All these can make a conclusion that the effective pore-
wall surface available for the sound wave action in the pore may be
greatly dependent on the pore size, and the specific surface area can not
sample.
3.3.4. Thickness
The influence of thickness on the sound absorption coefficient of
ceramic foam samples was also investigated, with the porosity of 82.4%
for the sample with relatively large pores and that of 81.1% for that
with relatively small pores. Tables 11 and 12 show the change of the
sound absorption coefficient with the thickness of samples.
Relationships between the sound wave frequency and sound ab-
sorption coefficient under different sample thicknesses are shown in
Fig. 12 for the sample with relatively large pores. The absorption peak
appears at 2500 Hz with the peak absorption coefficient of 0.66 for the
sample with thickness of 10 mm, and the sound absorption coefficient
reaches the maximum value of 0.86 at 4000 Hz. For the sample with
thickness of 20 mm, the first absorption peak appears at 1250 Hz with
the corresponding sound absorption coefficient of 0.73. The absorption
coefficient gradually increases with the increase of sound wave fre-
quency, and it is higher for the sample with thickness of 10 mm than for
that with thickness of 20 mm in the frequency range of 2000–4000 Hz.
When the thickness of the sample reaches up to 30 mm, the first ab-
sorption peak appears at 800 Hz and the corresponding sound absorp-
tion coefficient reaches the maximum value of 0.92 in the sound fre-
quency range of 200–4000 Hz, which means that the sample has an
excellent absorption effect at the frequency of 800 Hz. The second
absorption peak appears at 2500 Hz, with the corresponding sound
absorption coefficient of 0.67.
As the thickness increases, the absorption peak moves to the lower
frequency and the peak absorption coefficient increases gradually. The
reason is that the greater thickness of the sample makes the propagation
path longer in the material, which results in a better sound absorption
in the relatively low frequency range.
Fig. 13 shows the average sound absorption coefficient increases

Table 10
Sound absorption coefficients and pore parameters of the ceramic foam samples.
Sample type With relatively small pores With relatively large pores

Porosity θ (%) ~76.6 ~79.9 ~81.1 ~78.3 ~82.4 ~83.7

Pore size d (mm) ~1.61 ~1.64 ~1.65 ~5.53 ~5.52 ~5.50
Specific surface area Sv (cm2/cm3) ~24.5 ~22.4 ~21.6 ~6.9 ~6.2 ~6.0
Absorption coefficient α 0.25 0.27 0.28 0.28 0.32 0.34
Average porosity θ (%) ~79.2 ~81.5
Average pore size d (mm) ~1.63 ~5.5
Average specific surface area Sv (cm2/cm3) ~22.8 ~6.4
Average absorption coefficient α ~0.27 ~0.31

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Table 12
Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively small pores.
Sound wave Sample thickness: Sample thickness: Sample thickness:
frequency (Hz) 10 mm (one layer) 20 mm (two 30 mm (three
layers) layers)

200 0.06 0.05 0.07

250 0.07 0.07 0.09
315 0.08 0.06 0.1
400 0.10 0.07 0.13
500 0.14 0.15 0.18
630 0.17 0.18 0.3
800 0.16 0.19 0.36
1000 0.21 0.31 0.46
1250 0.29 0.30 0.39
1600 0.33 0.36 0.23
2000 0.42 0.44 0.2
2500 0.56 0.58 0.25
3150 0.52 0.55 0.25
4000 0.78 0.80 0.89
Average 0.28 0.29 0.28 Fig. 14. Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively small pores
for different sample thickness.

requirements.
Fig. 14 shows the sound absorption curve of the sample with rela-
tively small pores. For both the sample thicknesses of 10 mm and
20 mm, the curve is almost consistent that the first absorption peaks
appears at 2500 Hz, and the corresponding absorption coefficient is
about 0.56–0.58, which is slightly higher for the thickness of 20 mm
than for that of 10 mm. The sound absorption coefficient at 4000 Hz
reaches to the maximum value of 0.78 for the thicknesses of 10 mm and
0.80 for that of 20 mm, respectively. For the sample with thickness of
30 mm, the first absorption peak appears at 1000 Hz and the corre-
sponding absorption coefficient is 0.46. With the increase of the fre-
quency, the absorption coefficient gradually decreases in the range of
1000–3150 Hz and rises in that of 3150–4000 Hz to reach up to the
maximum value of 0.89.
Fig. 15 displays the relationship between the sample thickness and
average sound absorption coefficient of the sample with relatively small
pores. From this figure, the average absorption coefficient changes just
Fig. 12. Sound absorption coefficients of the sample with relatively large pores
a little with the thickness of the sample, which indicates that it is un-
for different sample thickness.
advisable to improve the sound absorption performance by increasing
the thickness of samples with relatively small pores. For economic
consideration, the 10 mm thick foam is advocated to use instead of the
30 mm thick foam. In practical applications, the ceramic foam product
can be designed with different thicknesses to meet the actual frequency
requirements. For instance, the porous product with thickness of 10 mm
can be used to absorb the sound at 200–2000 Hz, and that with

Fig. 13. Relationship between the average sound absorption coefficient and
thickness of the sample with relatively large pores.

significantly with the increase of thickness for the sample with rela-
tively large pores. This average coefficient is 0.32 for the thickness of
10 mm and 0.44 for that of 30 mm, which suggests a good sound ab-
sorption performance. In practical applications, the ceramic foams with Fig. 15. Relationship between the average sound absorption coefficient and
different thicknesses can be designed according to the actual frequency thickness of the sample with relatively small pores.

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J.H. Chen, et al.
thickness of 20 mm will achieve a better effect of sound absorption at
2000 Hz.
3.3.5. Others
Finally, it must be pointed out that the effect of phase transforma-
tion, materials and pore structure are all quite important on the sound
absorption of porous materials, but the present work just focuses on the
effect of several elementarily structural parameters of the sample, in-
cluding the pore size, porosity and thickness. These 3 structural para-
meters are the most elementary, so the effect of phase, materials and
pore structure on the sound absorption will be studied in depth when
this ceramic foam is further investigated. Such investigations would be
reported in another paper, considering the present work is only a pri-
mary investigation on the sound absorption performance of this light-
weight ceramic foam, which is already containing a quite large content.
4. Conclusions
(1) Two classes of ceramic foams with different pore sizes were suc-
cessfully prepared by conventional molding with pore forming
agent: one is the product with the pore size of 4–5 mm, and the
other is that with the pore size of 1–2 mm. Using higher volume
fraction of the pore-forming agent will make higher porosity of the
porous product, and the maximum porosity could reach 83.7% for
the ceramic foam with relatively large pores and 81.1% for that
with relatively small pores.
(2) As the sintering temperature and period increased, the linear
change rate of ceramic foams gradually increased, and it tended
stable when the sintering temperature was over 1190 °C. SEM ob-
servations find the primary pores of ceramic foams became
smoother as the temperature increased, and the secondary pore
gradually became spherical. XRD analysis suggests the phase com-
ponents are almost consistent in ceramic foams that are sintered at
different temperatures of 1150 °C, 1170 °C and 1190 °C, but their
intensity of the characteristic peaks obviously decreases. It also
reveals these ceramic foams contain a lot of glassy substance, and
the extension of sintering period is conducive to the elimination of
carbon in the sample.
(3) For the present ceramic foam samples tested at the sound wave
frequencies of 200–4000 Hz, the sound absorption performance is
not good in the relatively low frequency region, but it is excellent in
the relatively high frequency region. When the porosity is almost
equal, the sound absorption performance of samples with relatively
large pores is superior to that with relatively small pores in the
sound frequency range of 200–4000 Hz, and the maximum sound
absorption coefficients is 0.86 for the former and 0.77 for the latter,
respectively.
(4) As the porosity increases, the first absorption peak moves to the
lower frequency for the ceramic foam with relatively large pores,
and the average sound absorption coefficient increases up to 0.34
for the 10 mm thick sample with porosity of 83.7%. For the ceramic
foam with relatively small pores, the first absorption peak does not
change as the porosity increases, but the sound absorption perfor-
mance gradually increases in the intermediate frequency region.
Increasing the porosity from 76.6% to 81.1%, the average absorp-
tion coefficient increases from 0.25 to 0.28. The average absorption
coefficient of the sample with relatively large pores increases from
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Ceramics International 46 (2020) 22699–22708
0.32 for the 10 mm thick sample to 0.44 for the 30 mm thick
sample, but that with relatively small pores keeps at 0.28–0.29.
Declaration of competing interest
1. A lightweight cellular kind of ceramic foam with bulk density of
0.38–0.56 g cm-3 was successfully prepared, of which the average pore
size can be about 5.5 mm or 1.5 mm.
2. This porous product can exhibit an evident effectiveness of sound
absorption, which is quite good at relatively high frequencies.
3. The absorption performance of the product with relatively large
pores is superior to that with relatively small pores at about the same
porosity.
4. With the increase of porosity, the average sound absorption
coefficient increases for all the samples, and the first absorption peak
moves from higher to lower frequency for the sample with relatively
large pores but does not change for that with relatively small pores.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the Testing Foundation of BNU
grant no. C19. The authors thank Dr Y.L.Li for his experimental assis-
tance in SEM observation.
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