Colloids and Surfaces

A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 179 (2001) 191 – 194

www.elsevier.nl/locate/colsurfa

Underwater sound absorption property of porous aluminum

Cheng Guiping a,b,*, He Deping b, Shu Guangji b
a
School of Applied Physics, Zhengzhou Uni6ersity, Zhengzhou 450052, China
b
Department of Materials Science, Southeast Uni6ersity, Nanjing 210096, China

Abstract

Porous aluminum was prepared by negative pressure infiltration process using removable granules. Underwater
sound absorption coefficient a of the porous aluminum was determined by a pulse tube method. The relationship
between a and pore structure of porous aluminum was studied. a increases remarkably with the decrease of pore
diameter from 5 to 2 mm. It shows that there is an optimal porosity (75 – 80%) with which porous aluminum gives
the best sound absorption. a increases with the sample’s thickness L. The thin sample doesn’t absorb sound (such as
L=15 mm). © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Liquid metal infiltration; Porous aluminum; Acoustic property

1. Introduction occupy gives the pore of porous metal [4]. So the

Nonmetallic porous materials, such as glass
wool or foam, are generally used to attenuate
noise. In addition to these well-known materials,
new materials such as open-cell porous metal,
have been developed to satisfy the need for a
porous material that can be exposed to high-speed
air flow or whose physical characteristics will
remain unchanged when exposed to a chemical
atmosphere [1 – 3].
In the past, open-celled porous metal was given
by infiltration process, in which liquid metals are
infiltrated around granules that are then removed,
for instance, carbon beads can be burned off or
salt granules can be leached out, the space they
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 86-371-7763097; fax: +86-
371-7973895.
E-mail address: gpcheng@mail.zzu.edu.cn (C. Guiping).
granules are very important in preparing porous
metal. The paper presents a negative pressure
infiltration process to prepare open-cell porous
aluminum in which removable granules made in
the present work were used to form the pores.
The most fundamental acoustic property of
these porous materials is their sound absorption
coefficient. The sound absorption coefficient was
determined and its relationship to pore structure
was studied.
2. Experimental method
Porous aluminum was produced by negative
pressure infiltration process (see Fig. 1(a)). Sphere
granules were filled in a metal mold and preheated
to 300–600°C. After the mold was put on a
platform liquid aluminum is poured. Under nega-

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192 C. Guiping et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 179 (2001) 191–194
tive pressure liquid aluminum infiltrates into the
preheated and interconnected removable granules.
After cooling the granules are leached out and
porous aluminum is left (see Fig. 1(b)). It has
open cells with equal cell size that are
interconnected.
To obtain samples for underwater sound ab-
sorption coefficient measurements, the material is
machined to cylinder with a diameter of 36.8 mm.
The underwater sound absorption coefficient of
porous aluminum a is determined by a pulse tube
method according to China standard GB5266-85.
Fig. 1. (a) Scheme of negative pressure infiltration process. (b)
Cross section of porous aluminum (n= 70%, d=3 mm).
Fig. 2. Effect of pore size d on underwater sound absorption
coefficient a.
3. Results
Effects of varying pore size d, porosity n and
thickness L of porous aluminum samples on the
variation of a with frequency of sound wave f are
shown in Figs. 2–4. It can be seen that the a–f
curve is undulate because of resonant absorption
of sound. However, the trend is that the sound
absorption coefficient is greater at high frequency
than that at low frequency.
Fig. 2 is the effect of varying pore size on sound
absorption coefficient. It can be seen that the
sound absorption coefficient of porous aluminum
with equal porosity increases remarkably with the
decrease of pore diameter from 5 to 2 mm.
Fig. 3 is the effect of varying porosity on sound
absorption coefficient of porous aluminum with
pore diameter 2.5 mm. The sound absorption
coefficient decreases with the increase of porosity
from 81 to 88% (see Fig. 3(a)). While it increases
when porosity changes from 68 to 78%, as shown
in Fig. 3(b).
From Fig. 4 it can be seen that the sound
absorption coefficient a increases with the sam-
ple’s thickness L. The thin sample doesn’t absorb
sound (such as L =15 mm).
 C. Guiping et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 179 (2001) 191–194
4. Discussion
4.1. Preparation aspects
Porous aluminum produced by this method ex-
hibits an open-cell structure. The size of pores is
determined by that of granules whose values from
1 to 10 mm can be achieved, and the porosity in
Fig. 3. Effect of porosity n on underwater sound absorption
coefficient a.
193
Fig. 4. Effect of sample’s thickness on underwater sound
absorption coefficient a.
the range 66–90% is controlled by the infiltration
process parameters.
Several years ago the infiltration process was
used to produce porous metals using salt granules
with irregular shape. It was difficult to leach out
the irregular granules, which hinders the develop-
ment of such porous metals produced by the
infiltration process.
In our experiment, we succeeded in preparing
sphere granules that are easy to form and remove,
which exhibit heat resistance and high strength.
The results show that the pore size of porous
aluminum is equal to that of granules, which
shows that they can satisfy the need of producing
porous metal.
4.2. Relation between pore structure and sound
absorption coefficient
The pore size, porosity and sample’s length
were taken as the structure parameter for their
easy measurement. The structure of porous alu-
minum that is open, which allows sound to enter
and vibrate internal strands, will absorb acousti-
cal energy. As the sound wave enters the struc-
ture, the pressure pulse of the acoustical wave
causes the strands to vibrate. The resulting me-
194 C. Guiping et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 179 (2001) 191–194
chanical movement of these strands dissipates the
energy that is released as heat [5].
The pore size affects the absorption efficiency
of porous aluminum at all frequencies. The
smallest pore (d =2 mm) gives the best sound
absorption as shown in Fig. 2. Because the
smaller the pore, the more pores per unit area and
the more energy sound wave will be exhausted.
The smaller cell size could be desirable in the view
of sound absorption, but it is difficult to prepare
porous aluminum with pore size less than 1 mm.
Sound absorption requires the incident wave to
enter the internal passage of porous aluminum.
When the porosity is low, the pore number per
unit area reduces and incident wave is apt to be
reflected. With the increase of the porosity, the
energy dissipated increases with the increase of
pore number per unit area. But the excessive high
porosity value makes sound wave penetrate and
the energy absorbed by porous aluminum de-
creases. Porous aluminum with porosity value
from 75 to 80% gives the best absorption effi-
ciency, as shown from the present result.
The effect of sample’s length can be regarded as
the distance sound wave travels. So the thicker the
sample, the greater the sound absorption coeffi-
cient is. However, lightweight is the main reason
that porous metal is used as potential sound
absorbing materials, increasing the sample’s thick-
ness to improve the sound absorption efficiency is
not the best way.
5. Conclusions
The porous metal with controllable pore struc-
ture can be produced using sphere granules made
in the present work. Sound absorption coefficient
increases with the decrease of the pore size and
the increase of the sample’s thickness, which
varies with the variation of porosity. The porous
aluminum gives the best sound absorption with
porosity of 75–80%.
Acknowledgements
Thanks for the financial support of National
Natural Science Fund.
References
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2 (1991) 59.
[4] H.A. Kucheck, US Patent 32367.6, 1966
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