Hemp-fiber based nonwoven composites: Effects of alkalization on sound absorption performance

The effects of the material and treatment parameters on airflow resistivity and normal-incidence sound absorption coefficient of alkalized three layered nonwoven composites have been studied. The material parameters included fiber size and porosity. The treatment factors included the temperature, duration and concentration. The alkalized composite was a three-layered nonwoven sandwich structure consisting layers of Polypropylene/Hemp/Polypropylene. Alkalization treatment has been found to result in a loss of basis weight and a decrease in air flow resistivity. Among treatment factors, only temperature was found to be a statistically-significant factor on air flow resistivity. Higher-temperature alkalization leads to higher air flow resistivity compared to the lower-temperature treatment. Alkalization at higher temperature and higher concentrations gives better results in normalized sound absorption performance compared to lower-temperature and lower-concentration treatments, respectively. © 2012 The Korean Fiber Society and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht