Impact sound insulation technique using corn cob particleboard

Published Date
Construction and Building Materials
December 2012, Vol.37:153–159, doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.07.064

Non Destructive Techniques for Assessment of Concrete

Author 

Jorge Faustino ^a

Luís Pereira ^a

Salviano Soares ^a,b

Daniel Cruz ^a

Anabela Paiva ^a,c

Humberto Varum ^d,,

José Ferreira ^e

Jorge Pinto ^a,f

aECT, Engineering Department, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

bIEETA, Aveiro, Portugal

cC-MADE, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

dCivil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

ePolytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal

fAssociate Laboratory I3N, Aveiro, Portugal

Received 28 February 2012. Revised 26 June 2012. Accepted 22 July 2012. Available online 24 August 2012.

Abstract

A low technological corn cob particleboard has been under research by this research team. It intends to be affordable and sustainable. So far, some of its assessed material properties (e.g. density, fire resistance, durability, thermal conductivity, compression and bending strengths, and impact resistance) suggest adequacy of this product for several building applications, such as a thermal insulation product, a light weight partition wall, a ceiling coating, or as indoor doors, among other possibilities. However, proper acoustic insulation performance is also a fundamental property required for most of the above identified building applications. Therefore, this paper is focused on evaluating the impact sound insulation potential of the proposed particleboard. At this stage, impact sound insulation tests have been performed in which the acoustic insulation gain of a pavement reinforced acoustically by a 3 cm thick corn cob particleboard was assessed. The obtained acoustic insulation gain was then compared with the respective ones of traditional sound insulation products (e.g. glass wool and expanded polystyrene) and also with different alternative natural sound insulation products (e.g. kenaf, coco fibre, sheep wool, cork and cellulose). The obtained results indicate that the proposed product may also have an interesting acoustic behaviour for building purposes. This conclusion is even more interesting taking into account that corn cob is a natural, organic, renewable and local raw building material.

Highlights

► Study of a new low technological corn cob particleboard. ► Sustainable building solution. ► Natural materials recycling and reuse. ► Innovative sustainable material for non-structural applications. ► Potential impact sound insulation sustainable solution.

Keywords

Corn cob

Particleboard

Impact sound insulation

Agricultural waste materials

Sustainability

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