3D printed sound-absorbing materials with double porosity

The paper shows that acoustic materials with double porosity can be 3D printed with the appropriate design of the main pore network and the contrasted micro-porous skeleton. The microporous structure is obtained through the use of appropriate additive manufacturing (AM) technology, raw material, and process parameters. The essential properties of the microporous material obtained in this way are investigated experimentally. Two AM technologies are used to 3D print acoustic samples with the same periodic network of main pores: one provides a microporous skeleton leading to double porosity, while the other provides single-porosity material. The sound absorption for each acoustic material is determined both experimentally using impedance tube measurements and numerically using a multiscale model. The model combines finite element calculations (on periodic representative elementary volumes) with scaling functions and analytical expressions resulting from homogenization. The obtained double-porosity material is shown to exhibit a strong permeability contrast resulting in a pressure diffusion effect, which fundamentally changes the nature of the sound absorption compared to its single-porosity counterpart with an impermeable skelton. This work opens up interesting perspectives for the use of popular, low-cost AM technologies to produce efficient sound absorbing materials.