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Development of macroporous silicone rubber composites by internal emulsion templating for acoustic applications

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Abstract

This work reports synthesis of macroporous silicone rubber (MPSR) composites using room temperature vulcanizable liquid silicone rubber (LSR), comparatively non-hazardous pore-generator (oil-in-water emulsion) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Besides, effects of pore generators and filler incorporation (~0.1–0.3 wt. % hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN) on acoustic properties (sound absorption coefficient and transmission loss) have been investigated. Microstructural study revealed that pore size distribution, porosity content and fraction of interconnected pores in MPSR samples were significantly affected by addition of pore generators and h-BN filler, which finally influenced their acoustic properties. MPSR samples synthesized with optimal content of pore generators displayed an average sound absorption coefficient (SAC) of ∼0.41 and transmission loss (TL) of 5 − 42 dB in the frequency range of 63–6300 Hz. Interestingly, incorporation of only 0.2 wt.% h-BN in this optimized MPSR sample further improved the sound-absorbing capability (average SAC ~0.44) at a frequency higher than 1000 Hz and transmission loss over the entire frequency range (> 100 Hz). This was ascribed to the decrease in pore size, increase in interconnected pores and possibility of enhanced mechanical energy dissipation at polymer matrix-h-BN interface by interfacial sliding.

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Data availability

The data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

h-BN:

Hexagonal boron nitride

MPSR:

Macroporous silicone rubber

SAC:

Sound absorption coefficient

TL:

Transmission loss

SR:

Silicone rubber

LSR:

Liquid silicone rubber

DI-W:

Deionized water

O-DI-W:

Oil-in-deionized water

Vo%:

Volume percentage

wt.%:

Weight percentages

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge BHEL management for providing the infrastructure for carrying out the work, Prof. Venkatesam’s group of the Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT Hyderabad for the TL measurements, Manish Agarwal and Sai Babu of MDF, BHEL R&D, for SAC measurements and Sarang Mahajan of CNT, BHEL R&D, for schematic drawings.

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The authors received no financial support for this article's research, authorship, and publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, 440010, Maharashtra, India

    Anil Kumar

  2. Centre for Nanotechnology, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) Corporate Research & Development (R & D) Vikasnagar, Hyderabad, 500093, India

    Raghunandan Seelaboyina

  3. Centre for Healthcare Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, 711103, India

    Subhodeep Jana

  4. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Tapas Laha

  5. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, 801103, India

    Anup Kumar Keshri

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Correspondence to Anil Kumar.

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Kumar, A., Seelaboyina, R., Jana, S. et al. Development of macroporous silicone rubber composites by internal emulsion templating for acoustic applications. J Polym Res 31, 78 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-024-03932-6

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