Journal of Natural Fibers

ISSN: 1544-0478 (Print) 1544-046X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjnf20

An Investigation of the Sound Absorption

Properties of Flax/Epoxy Composites Compared
with Glass/Epoxy Composites

Heow Pueh Lee, Benson Mun Pun Ng, Abhishek Vishwanath Rammohan &
Le Quan Ngoc Tran

To cite this article: Heow Pueh Lee, Benson Mun Pun Ng, Abhishek Vishwanath Rammohan &
Le Quan Ngoc Tran (2017) An Investigation of the Sound Absorption Properties of Flax/Epoxy
Composites Compared with Glass/Epoxy Composites, Journal of Natural Fibers, 14:1, 71-77, DOI:
10.1080/15440478.2016.1146643

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2016.1146643

Published with license by Taylor & Francis© Published online: 13 Oct 2016.
2017 Heow Pueh Lee, Benson Mun Pun Ng,
Abhishek Vishwanath Rammohan, and Le
Quan Ngoc Tran.

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JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS
2017, VOL. 14, NO. 1, 71–77
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2016.1146643

An Investigation of the Sound Absorption Properties of Flax/Epoxy

Composites Compared with Glass/Epoxy Composites
Heow Pueh Leea, Benson Mun Pun Nga, Abhishek Vishwanath Rammohana,
and Le Quan Ngoc Tranb
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore; bSingapore Institute of
Manufacturing Technology, Singapore

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Natural fiber based composites are becoming attractive candidates for use Acoustic properties; epoxy
in various applications owing to their mechanical and sound absorption resin; flax fiber; natural fiber
properties. It has been proposed that they could potentially replace glass
关键词
fiber composites owing to their minimized impact on human health and the 声学特性; 环氧树脂;
environment. Though studies have been dedicated to understanding their 亚麻纤维; 天然纤维
mechanical properties, few focus on quantifying their sound attenuation
behavior. We investigated the sound absorption properties of flax/epoxy
composites and found them to be superior to those of glass/epoxy com-
posites. A noteworthy result was that the noise reduction coefficient
increased from an average value of 0.095–0.11 for unidirectional flax/
epoxy composite and to 0.10 for cross-ply flax/epoxy system. Results sug-
gest that flax/epoxy composites could be less expensive, viable and ecolo-
gically superior substitutes for glass-fiber based composites, particularly
in applications where sound absorption is important.

基于天然纤维的复合材料具有出色的机械性能和吸声性能，因而在各种
应用中日益受到青睐。研究指出它们对人类健康和环境的影响很小，可
能会取代玻璃纤维复合材料。各项研究关注了其机械性能，但很少关注
和量化其声音衰减行为。本文研究亚麻/环氧树脂复合材料的吸声性能，
发现它们优于玻璃/环氧复合材料。一个值得注意的结果是，单向亚麻/
环氧树脂复合材料的降噪系数从平均值0.095–0.11增加至亚麻/环氧交叉
层体系的平均值0.10。结果表明，亚麻/环氧复合材料可能是玻璃纤维基
复合材料的更便宜、更可行且更具生态优势的优良替代品，特别是在吸
声应用中更为重要。

Introduction
Natural fiber based composites are finding increasing use in products like the interior parts of
automotives, electronics casings, as reinforcements in the building and construction industry, etc.
They are now gaining attention as a viable and environmentally friendly substitute for mineral and
synthetic fiber composites. Though their mechanical properties are frequently found to be some-
what poorer than their mineral and synthetic fiber counterparts, it is becoming increasingly
obvious that natural fiber based composites make up for these shortcomings in other aspects.
For example, natural fiber composites are CO2 neutral (and thus environmentally friendly), less
expensive to produce, recyclable, biodegradable, non-abrasive to machinery, and pose little health
risk upon inhalation (Wambua et al. 2003). In the light of these merits, considerable research
efforts are being directed at investigating the material properties of natural fibers and their

CONTACT Heow Pueh Lee mpeleehp@nus.edu.sg Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of
Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, 117576, Singapore.
Published with license by Taylor & Francis © 2017 Heow Pueh Lee, Benson Mun Pun Ng, Abhishek Vishwanath Rammohan, and Le Quan Ngoc Tran.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
72 H. P. LEE ET AL.

composites, so that they can be better applied in designing and manufacturing products that are
both ecologically benign and of good quality (Biagiotti et al. 2004; Kicińska-Jakubowska et al. 2012;
Puglia et al. 2005).
Among the numerous natural fiber species, flax in particular has enjoyed considerable interest,
perhaps owing to its ready availability and relatively low price. Several studies are dedicated to
quantifying the mechanical properties of flax fibers both as raw fibers as well as in the form of
reinforcements for polymer resin composites. For example, Le Duigou et al. (2014) immersed a
flax/polylactic acid-based composite in seawater and discovered that its mechanical integrity was
compromised by fiber degradation (Le Duigou et al. 2015); Yan et al (2015) studied the combined
effect of ultraviolet radiation and water spraying on flax/epoxy composite systems and concluded
that though there was a decrease in their strength and stiffness, they could still be considered for
civil engineering application, especially after treatment. The damping properties of hybrid flax–
carbon epoxy composites have been investigated by Assarar et al. (2015), who remarked that the
exact position of the flax layers in the overall composite layup had a substantial effect on the
mechanical and damping behavior. Still within the context of the dynamic behavior of flax
composites, Yan (2012) added alkali solution to a flax/epoxy composite and reported that though
its compressive and shear strength was improved, its impact strength and damping ratios were
attenuated, perhaps due to the improved fiber-to-matrix adhesion. Recently, Khelifi et al. (2016)
added flax fibers to cements and discovered that cast-made composites showed little improvement
in mechanical properties, while extruded composites showed substantially better mechanical
characteristics. The possibility of using flax/epoxy composites in energy absorbing structures is
being rigorously studied by Yan and Chouw (2013, 2014), Yan et al. 2014a, 2014b), who are
working on cylindrical flax/epoxy specimens, both with and without foam cores, under axial and
transverse crushing. Cylinders with foam cores absorbed more impact energy than hollow ones,
and the predominant failure mechanism was found to be progressive crushing. They concluded
that, generally, there is significant potential for the use of flax/epoxy composite systems in impact
mitigating structures.
In developed countries, excessive noise has had a significant negative impact on people’s health
and well-being. In the vicinity of major highways, airports, and construction sites, there are
numerous complaints from residents and passers-by pertaining to the inconvenience and health
effects arising from the sound of moving vehicles and heavy machineries (Zhu et al. 2013). Studies
are being undertaken to quantify the pernicious effects of noise on human circadian rhythms
(Freedman et al. 2001). Noise can be attenuated through two major means: active control involves
the reduction of noise production at the source, while passive control is achieved by the use of
sound absorbing material at the location of the recipient (Bies and Hansen 2009; Yang and Li
2012). Since it is frequently very expensive or not practical to implement active noise control
mechanisms, it is imperative to develop passive noise mitigation technologies like sound absorp-
tion panels. In this context, researchers have recently begun investigating natural fiber composites
as potential materials for the manufacture of sound absorption structures. For example, Ersoy and
Küçük (2009) tested tea leaf fibers with a single layer of cotton cloth and reported that it absorbed
sound better than polyester and polypropylene based nonwoven fibers; while Zulkifli et al. (2008)
quantified the acoustic properties of multi-layer coir fibers and concluded that their sound
absorption coefficients were comparable to commercially available rock wool and synthetic fibers.
Also, Yang, Kim, and Kim (2003) reported that the acoustic properties of rice straw wood particle
composite boards is superior to other wood-based materials. A noteworthy contribution to the use
of analytical models in acoustic property estimation was by Fouladi et al. (2011), who compared
experimental results of coir fiber with the Delaney–Bazley and the Allard models. Finally, Fatima
and Mohanty (2011) noted that jute-based fibers are similar in acoustic behavior to glass-fiber
based materials, while Glé et al. (2011) studied hemp fibers using equivalent-fluid models like the
Biot-Allard model, and Oldham et al. (2011) undertook a large-scale study on several natural fibers
(e.g., jute, hemp, cotton, flax, etc.) to assess their acoustic performance. Most of these works have
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 73

focused on natural fibers in their raw form (i.e., unimpregnated with any polymer resin). In our
present work, we have tested flax and glass fibers used as fillers in epoxy matrix which may affect
their properties considerably.
A specific question that has been frequently posed is whether natural fiber composites can
replace glass composites (Wambua et al. 2003) in all or some of the abovementioned applications.
In attempting to address this question, several studies have focused on investigating the mechan-
ical properties (e.g., strength, fatigue life, etc.) of natural fiber based composites (Bos et al. 2002).
Also, from the environmental point of view, natural fiber composites have already been shown to
be superior to glass fiber composites, primarily because the former are less dependent on non-
renewable energy, have lower pollutant emissions, lower greenhouse gas emissions, greater energy
recovery, and excellent biodegradability (Joshi et al. 2004). Nevertheless, more work still needs to
be done with regard to the sound attenuation capabilities of natural fiber composites vis-à-vis their
glass fiber counterparts. In this work, we have characterized and compared the sound absorption
behavior of flax/epoxy composites versus glass/epoxy composites.

Materials and methods

The vacuum assisted resin infusion technique (VARI) was employed to manufacture the flax/epoxy
specimens. The Epoxy Epolam 5015 Resin was supplied by Axson Technologies, while the
unidirectional (UD) flax fiber tape with area density of 200 g/m2 was purchased from Lineo
(Belgium). Layers of UD flax fibers with dimensions of 270 mm by 270 mm were cut out and dried
at 80°C for 24 h in an oven, before cooling down to room temperature. The layout sequence of the
flax fiber layers will determine the overall UD or cross-ply (CP) orientation of the composite
sample. Next, they were placed on an aluminum plate used as a mold and then sealed in a vacuum
bag. The epoxy resin was mixed with hardener and subsequently degassed in a vacuum oven at
room temperature for 15 min to remove air bubbles, after which it was drawn through an inlet
tube into the bag to infuse and wet the fibers. Once the fibers were completely impregnated by the
resin, the sample was cured at room temperature for 24 h before demolding. Finally, the sample
was subjected to a post-curing process at 80 °C for 16 h to obtain a complete cured matrix.
Specimens of glass/epoxy composites were also similarly prepared. Table 1 shows the dimensions
and volume fractions of all the specimens used in the current study. We note that the UD flax
composite (UF) sample is thicker than the sample of CP flax composite (CF) in spite of the fact
that both have 20 layers, due to the nature of the manufacturing process, whereby CP fibers were
able to align alternately better and permit greater compaction than in the UD sample. Typical fiber
material properties are: 800–1500 MPa and 2400 MPa for the tensile strengths, and 60–80 GPa and
73 GPa for the Young’s moduli, of flax and glass fibers, respectively (Wambua et al. 2003). The
tensile strength and elastic modulus of epoxy resin are 35–100 MPa and 3–6 GPa, respectively
(Yan et al. 2014c).
The sound absorption coefficients of the samples were measured using the standing wave
apparatus type 4002. The workings of the apparatus are based on the standing wave principle.
Briefly, a loudspeaker is situated at one end of an acoustically rigid tube and the sample
material to be tested is placed at the other end. A plane sound wave is then generated by the
loudspeaker in the tube toward the sample. The wave will be partially reflected by the sample,

Table 1. Physical properties of studied samples: Glass fiber epoxy composites (G1 and G2), UD flax epoxy composite (UF) and
cross-ply flax epoxy composite (CF).
Sample Material Number of Layers Average Thickness (mm) Fiber Volume Fraction
G1 UD Glass/Epoxy 16 5.56 0.53
G2 UD Glass/Epoxy 24 8.51 0.55
UF UD Flax/Epoxy 20 9.32 0.26
CF CP Flax/Epoxy 20 7.87 0.32
74 H. P. LEE ET AL.

Figure 1. Standing wave apparatus with (a) large tube for low frequency range and (b) small tube for high frequency range.

resulting in a standing wave due to the superposition of the incident and reflected waves. The
microphone probe, connected to the microphone carriage, can be moved inside the tube to
detect the alternating maximum amplitude and minimum amplitude of the sound pressure. The
ratio of the maximum sound pressure to minimum sound pressure is known as the standing
wave ratio (SWR). The sound absorption coefficient can be calculated using the following
relationship:
" #
ðSWR  1Þ2
Sound absorption coefficient ¼ 1 
ðSWR þ 1Þ2

This absorption coefficient can be read off directly from the calibrated scale of the measuring
amplifier of the standing wave apparatus on a scale of 0–1.
The frequency range of the standing wave apparatus is limited at the lower frequencies by the
length of the tube, which must be at least one-quarter of the wavelength under consideration, and at
the higher frequencies by the diameter of the tube, which theoretically should be less than 0.586 of
the wavelength under consideration in order to exclude the possibility of transverse resonances with
the tube. Therefore, a large tube is used for measurements in the frequency range from 100 to
1600 Hz for circular sample size of diameter 102.5 mm, while a small tube is used for measurements
in the frequency range from 800 to 6300 Hz for circular sample size of diameter 32.5 mm. The two
standing wave apparatus setups are shown in Figure 1 below.

Results and discussion

Figure 2 shows the sound absorption coefficient values for all samples across the measured range
of frequencies. The trend of the graphs is similar for all the samples and their values are also quite
close to each other. There is little to no absorption at low frequencies below 500 Hz, while
absorption gradually increases as the frequency increases beyond 500 Hz, before becoming
relatively constant from 3150 Hz to 6300 Hz. This is because the lower the frequency, the longer
the wavelength of sound and the shorter the propagation path of sound wave. Therefore, there will
be less dissipation of sound energy at lower frequencies and more dissipation at higher
frequencies.
Yang and Li (2012) have found the sound absorption coefficient of flax/epoxy composite to be
over 0.8 at 10,000 Hz. They employed the impedance tube, based on the transfer function method,
to measure the sound absorption coefficients up to a frequency of 10,000 Hz. Unfortunately, the
standing wave apparatus we have used can only measure up to 6300 Hz and thus cannot verify the
sound absorption coefficients of our samples at higher frequencies. On the other hand, while they
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 75

Figure 2. Sound absorption coefficients of samples at different frequencies.

studied plain woven samples, we investigated specimens with both unidirectional and cross-ply
fiber orientations.
It can also be observed that G2 has higher absorption coefficients than G1 for all frequencies. This
is expected because increasing the thickness of the sample means that the sound will have to pass
through more material, resulting in greater frictional losses that dampen the sound energy.
For an easier visual comparison between the samples, the noise reduction coefficients (NRC),
calculated by taking the arithmetic mean of all the sound absorption coefficients across the frequency
range, are summarized in Figure 3.
The NRC of UF is marginally higher than that of CF. Although UF is thicker than CF, its fiber
volume fraction is lower than that of CF. The NRCs of both G1 and G2 are in general lower than
those of UF and CF. Comparing between G2 and CF, G2 is thicker and has a higher fiber volume
fraction but their NRCs are almost identical. This suggests that flax fibers are indeed better sound
absorbers than glass fibers, which agrees with the findings of the reported study done by Yang and
Li (2012). They compared the microscopic cross-sections of natural fibers and synthetic fibers and
found a single sisal fiber to be made up of a bundle of hollow sub- fibers with lumen inside while a
glass fiber has a regular and solid construction throughout. This unique lumen structure means
that there would be greater frictional and thermal losses as the sound wave tries to propagate

Figure 3. Noise reduction coefficients (NRC) for all samples.

76 H. P. LEE ET AL.

through the air spaces and inside the lumen, making natural fibers better sound absorbers than
synthetic fibers.
Nevertheless, the NRC values of UF and CF are still relatively low compared to that of plain
woven flax fibers, which is around 0.65 as found by Yang and Li (2012). The composite samples
are compacted during manufacturing, which may have resulted in the diminishing of free spaces
within and between the flax fibers. The epoxy resin may also have occupied some effective volume
of air flow and the air cavities between the fibers and inside the lumens. Moreover, the sound
absorption performance of epoxy is generally poor. These explain why flax/epoxy composites are
poorer sound absorbers than plain flax fibers. However, there are still possible ways to improve
their overall sound absorption capabilities. Additives like precipitated calcium carbonate can
increase the stiffness of the composite to provide better absorption of sound waves. Having a
sandwich structure can help to increase the sound insulation between the adjoining composite
panels with a lightweight core inside. Similarly, a honeycomb core structure may also enhance
sound insulation (Zhu et al. 2013).

Conclusion
In this study, we quantified the sound absorption properties of flax/epoxy composites and subse-
quently compared them with glass-fiber/epoxy composites. The present results showed that flax/
epoxy composites have very good acoustic properties and show promise as environmentally safe and
sustainable replacements for glass/epoxy systems.

Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research
(A*STAR) under the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) grant number 1426400041.

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