Development of cost effective ultra-lightweight cellulose-based sound absorbing material over silica sol/natural fiber blended substrate

Abstract An Ultra-lightweight cellulose-based foam material (ULW-CFM) reinforced with silicasol was prepared by foam forming technology. The sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) was a suitable foaming agent, creating stable bubbles for ULW-CFM with silicasol. The modulus of elasticity of ULW-CFM modified by silicasol was enhanced from 14.8 kPa to 83.32 kPa, and the yield strength was improved from 1.6 kPa to 4.36 kPa, respectively. The FTIR analysis indicated that the silicasol was deposited inside the material by Si-O-Si bonds and might has dehydration condensation reaction with cellulose. The thermostability of this material was also enhanced by silicasol. The weight loss of ULW-CFM with silicasol was less pronounced (60.36%) than the one without (81.12%). Owing to three dimensionally dispersed fiber structure, ultralightweight, high porosity, the sound absorption coefficient of ULW-CFM with silicasol reached 0.65 above 5000 Hz. Results show that ULW-CFM modified by silicasol has a promising application as a degradable sound absorbing material for dealing with noise.