Fabrication of acoustic absorbing topologies using rapid prototyping

A study was conducted to demonstrate the fabrication of acoustic absorbing topologies, using rapid prototyping (RP). Porous samples were produced using the FDM process, to investigate the potential use of RP in the fabrication of acoustically absorbing topologies. Samples with different porosities were produced by varying the filament spacing. The absorption properties of each sample were measured using an impedance tube in accordance with BS EN ISO 10534-2 (3). Two samples of each configuration were also produced, to allow testing,using low and high frequency impedance tubes. The measured coefficient for each configuration was also evaluated and presented. The absorption results show that a porous structure produced using FDM is capable of achieving significant absorption over 1600Hz.