Borelli et al.

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

Volume 19, 2013 http://acousticalsociety.org/

ICA 2013 Montreal

Montreal, Canada
2 - 7 June 2013

Noise
Session 4pNSb: Noise Control

4pNSb4. Experimental study on sound absorbing performance of rubber crumb

Davide Borelli*, Corrado Schenone and Ilaria Pittaluga​

​ *Corresponding author's address: DIME, University of Genova, Via all'Opera Pia 15/A, Genova, 16145, GE, Italy,
davide.borelli@unige.it
The present paper describes an experimental campaign aimed at the determination of acoustical properties of vulcanized rubber crumbs
obtained by the shredding of used tires. In particular, their performance as sound absorbing material in lined ducts was investigated. The most
innovative aspect that is addressed in the study is the use of a waste material such as rubber tires reduced into small grains as a sound absorbing
material: tires are in fact usually used at the end of their life cycle as fuel and burned in cement kilns in order to take advantage of their high
heating value, with all the problems of pollution that this solution produces. Two kinds of rubber crumbs have been investigated in terms of
characteristic dimension of the grains, porosity and sound absorbing coefficient, while their "in situ" performance when used inside lined and
parallel-baffle rectangular ducts has been evaluated measuring their insertion loss. The results of this research show that the acoustical
behaviour of the tested rubber crumbs is the typical behaviour of the granular materials, showing a noteworthy performance of the tested
material in the low frequency range, opening a scenery of possible applications where noise has relevant tonal components below 315 Hz.

Published by the Acoustical Society of America through the American Institute of Physics

© 2013 Acoustical Society of America [DOI: 10.1121/1.4800428]

Received 22 Jan 2013; published 2 Jun 2013
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INTRODUCTION
Currently in the EU about 220 million tires are manufactured each year, which, translated into weight, is
approximately 2.5 million tons of carcasses to be disposed of or recycled.
The stunning amount of tires that have been accumulated over the years in landfills (Fig. 1), notwithstanding the
rubber needed a long time for its degradation because of its meshed structure and the presence of stabilizers and
other additives, constitute a source of danger to the environment, such as unleashing fires and spreading diseases, in
particular in areas with hot and humid climate.
Tire disposal is nowadays regulated by the European Directive 31 CE of the 26th of April 1999, implemented in
Italy by the D. Lgs. 36 of the 13th of January 2003 who banned, from the 17th of July 2003, the landfilling of tires in
unaltered state, while, starting from the 17th of July 2006, it bans the landfilling also in shredded form, decreeing in
this way the need to effectively implement appropriate forms of treatment and recovery of End-of-Life Tires (ELTs).
Since the solutions focused on the reuse of rubber powder, made from shredded tires, are capable of dealing with
only a small amount of the out of order product per year, there is still the possibility of using the heat content.
In fact, being the tire composed by a percentage greater than 70% by polymeric components, it has a very high
calorific value, in the order of 6000 kcal/kg, capable of allowing a combustion without the need for additional
external energy. One of the ways to deal with the problem was then the use in the cement industry.
Problems of this kind of recovery (as well as of thermodestruction), however, came from the progressive
restriction in the environmental standards about the tolerance of the presence of pollutant elements (in particular
NOx and SOx) in the flue gas resulting from the process, an issue that will gradually force the cement factories to
equip themselves with systems for treating large volumes of flue gas to comply with the legal limits. An increasing
interest is currently focused on the use of recycled materials as “acoustic materials”, utilizing their sound absorption
properties as well as their airborne and impact sound insulation performance (Asdrubali 2006). In particular, rubber
crumb of scrap tires is one of the most interesting products for application in noise reduction, for the effective
acoustic properties of such a material (Venslovas & Idzelis 2011), which already has a number of different
applications. This interest, together with the widening of the field of application, required both for accurate and fast
measurement methods to determine their properties (Pispola et al, 2005).

ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES OF GRANULAR RUBBER

The first step of this research was aimed to the characterization of the sound absorbing material, consisting, as
already said, of unconsolidated grains of vulcanized rubber obtained by the grinding of scrap tires (Fig. 2).

Determination of Densities, Charachteristic Dimension and Porosity

Two different commercial materials were tested: the first (rubber “A” hereafter) from the company Tritogom Srl
and the second (rubber “B” hereafter) from the company Elastrade Srl. In both cases, the nominal particle size of the
rubber was contained within ranges, 1-4 mm for the rubber "A" and 3-5 mm for the rubber "B": the actual size of
each grain differs since the separation of the grains of different sizes takes place by means of a sieving process that
separates the product into size classes characterized by an assigned values field.

FIGURE 1. End-of-Life Tires

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FIGURE 2. Rubber crumb

The characterization of the materials tested in this activity was performed by methods both of general validity
(with regard to the density and porosity) and specific for loose granular materials (for what concerns the
characteristic dimension of the grains).
The determination of the density of the unconsolidated granular materials was determined by a series of 15
weightings of two separate known volumes of sample for each typology, carried out with the aid of an electronic
precision balance Mettler PC 440, having accuracy equal to ± 0.01 grams. After having arithmetically averaged the
measurements made, the calculation of the granular mix density is done by means of Eq. 1:

ρ m  m/V (1)

where:
ρm (kg/m3) is the density of the granular mix (bulk density);
m (kg) is the mass of the volume of material tested;
V (m3) is the sample volume considered.

The specific density of the grain material ρg was calculated making use of the principle of Archimedes, while the
characteristic dimension D of the particles was calculated according to Eq. 2:

D  3 N p / 0.5233 (2)

where Np is the number of particles of the granular mix in a unit volume.

This method yields approximately a 20% accuracy for small grain mixes, which is anyway a still acceptable
value for many engineering acoustics applications (Voronina & Horoshenkov 2003).
Finally, for the determination of the porosity ϕ of the materials, Eq. 3 was used:

m
 1 (3)
g

The results of these measurements and calculations are resumed in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Properties of rubber “A” and “B”.

Rubber Sample ρm (kg /m3) ρg (kg /m3) D (mm) ϕ
“A” 482 1122.7 3.93 0.571
“B” 464 1121.3 3.41 0.586

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FIGURE 3. Sound absorption coefficient for the three different thicknesses: a) rubber “A”, b) rubber “B”

Determination of Sound Absorption Coefficient at Normal Incidence

Sound absorption coefficient and normalized acoustic impedance at normal incidence were measured in
accordance with ASTM C384-04 standard by means of the standing wave ratio (SWR) method: the experimental
set-up consisted in a cylindrical Kundt’s tube made of PMMA, with an inner diameter of 0.19 m and an effective
length of 2.00 m, giving the opportunity to investigate the samples in the frequency range 160 – 1000 Hz. The
experimental validation of the set-up coming from previous measurement campaigns (Bartolini & Schenone 2000)
led to shift the upper frequency limit slightly above the value set by the standard: tests were conducted until the third
octave band of 1600 Hz. The samples were made of unconsolidated rubber crumb, type “A” and type “B”, of two
different thickness: 50 and 75 mm. The results of the experiments are showed in Figure 3 and Figure 4. A limited
difference between the two kinds of rubber crumbs was observed, while the thickness of the layer, t, deeply
influences its acoustic behaviour. This result confirms a number of literature results (Asdrubali & Horoshenkov
2002; Asdrubali et al. 2007; Asdrubali et al. 2008; Bartolini et al. 2010; Pfretzschner & Rodriguez 1999; Swift et al.
1999), evidencing the increase of the frequency of the peak value of α and the reduction of sound absorption at low
frequency as t decreases.

SOUND ATTENUATION IN DUCTS LINED WITH GRANULAR RUBBER

Test Facility
An experimental apparatus (Fig. 5), compliant with the EN ISO 11691:2009 and EN ISO 7235:2009 standards,
was used to assess the insertion loss in straight ducts without flow. The apparatus comprised the following elements:
a loudspeaker, test ducts with square cross section of 300×300 mm, a muffler or a substitution duct, a transition

10.0 10.0

5.0 5.0

0.0 0.0

-5.0 -5.0
Real part, t=50 mm Real part, t=50 mm

Real part, t=75 mm Real part, t=75 mm

-10.0 -10.0
Imaginary part, t=50 mm Imaginary part, t=50 mm

Imaginary part, t=75 mm Imaginary part, t=75 mm

-15.0 -15.0
100 1000 100 1000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

FIGURE 4. Normalized acoustic impedance for the three different thicknesses: a) rubber “A”, b) rubber “B”

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1: Loud speaker
2,4: Test duct
3: Substitution duct – silencer
5: Transition element
6: Reverberating room

FIGURE 5. Experimental setup: a) sketch, b) picture

element and a special reverberation room compliant with the requirements defined by the standards EN ISO
3743-1:2010 and EN ISO 3743-2:2009, which acts as the termination of the experimental apparatus, in accordance
with standard EN ISO 11691.
The muffler consisted in a duct equipped with two replaceable symmetrical side pockets of variable thickness
(Fig. 6). The thicknesses considered were the same of the sound absorption coefficient measurement campaign,
i.e. 50 mm and 75 mm. Sound transparent layers (made up of a perforated metal sheet, with a percent open area of
50%) were used for confining the two different unconsolidated rubber crumbs used as lining materials.
The sound source consisted of a pink noise generator, an amplifier and a broad band loudspeaker.

Experimental Results
The experimental procedure followed the steps described hereafter: pink noise was generated at the closed end of
the channel by means of a broad-band loudspeaker; the signal was then logged by a microphone positioned in three
different positions inside the special reverberating room and acquired by means of a sound spectrum analyzer.
Measurements were taken by alternatively mounting on the experimental set-up either the silencer itself or the
substitution duct so that the third octave band insertion loss IL (dB) was then calculated by means of the Eq. 4:

IL  SPL1  SPL2 (4)

FIGURE 6. Substitution duct with interchangeable symmetrical side pockets

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FIGURE 7. Insertion loss for different thicknesses: a) 50 mm, b) 75 mm

where SPL1 and SPL2 (both in dB) are respectively the mean sound pressure levels inside the reverberation room
before and after the insertion of the silencer along the test duct.
In Figure 7 the insertion loss (measured in the range 250–4000 Hz) for the two different investigated lining
thicknesses is reported. As it can be noticed, the behaviours of the two different kinds of rubber are almost the same,
even if the rubber “A” seems to be more effective for the thickness of 50 mm, while the thickness of 75 mm seems
to almost clear the difference, moreover with rubber “B” having a slightly better result on almost the whole
spectrum.
The behaviour of the two rubbers is also reported in Figure 8, which shows the selective acoustic absorption of
the granular material; the maximum absorption frequency diminishes steadily as the thickness of the material
increases.
In Figure 9 a comparison for a lined duct equipped with 50 mm pockets filled with different porous absorbing
materials is showed. As it can be noted, it is quite clear and known that mineral wool has almost unbeatable
performances on a wide frequency range; nevertheless, it must be underlined how granular materials, like granular
rubber or expanded clay, seem to have a better behaviour than mineral wool at medium-low frequencies, starting in

FIGURE 8. Insertion loss for the different kinds of rubber: a) rubber “A”, b) rubber “B”

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FIGURE 9. Comparison of the performance of different materials for a thickness of 50 mm

the case of rubber crumb from 315 Hz downwards. This finding opens a scenario to a whole series of specific
applications where the noise has tonal components detected below 315 Hz.
A prototype of a parallel baffle duct (Fig. 10) based on recycled rubber crumb was then designed and
investigated. Again, the duct had a inner square cross section of 300×300 mm with two baffles inside with frontal
cross section of 300 × 50 mm. The rubber used for this prototype was rubber “A”, since it gave better results with a
thickness of 50 mm in the previously described experiments.
The behavior of this dissipative/reactive silencer, with its internal-reflections and energy dissipation phenomena
is showed in Figure 11. What is really meaningful is that the prototype silencer works better precisely for the low
frequencies that silencers with rock wool have trouble to mitigate and that are prevailing in many industrial
processes.

FIGURE 10. Tested parallel baffle duct: a) sketch, b) picture

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FIGURE 11. Insertion loss for the parallel baffle prototype

CONCLUSIONS
During the research acoustical properties of vulcanized rubber crumbs, obtained by the shredding of used tires,
has been experimentally analyzed. Besides, their performance as sound absorbing material in lined ducts and
dissipative silencers has been studied.
Two different commercial materials were tested. In both cases, the nominal particle size of the rubber was
contained within the range: 1-4 mm for the rubber "A", 3-5 mm for the rubber "B". The actual size of the grains
varies inside those ranges, since the separation of the grains of different sizes takes place by means of a sieving
process that splits the product into size classes characterized by an assigned values field. Characteristic dimension of
the grains, porosity and sound absorbing coefficient were measured, revealing limited difference between the two
kinds of rubber crumbs. A marked effect of the layer thickness was observed, as expected, affecting both the sound
absorption coefficient and the acoustic impedance.
This behaviour, typical for the granular materials, even affects the performance of the rubber crumbs inside
dissipative silencers. This aspect has been analysed by measuring the insertion loss along a duct lined with rubber
crumbs: the lining thickness was varied for of both types of rubber crumb and a similar behaviour was observed, that
is an increase of the maximum IL and a reduction of the corresponding frequency.
The comparison between the performances of ducts lined with traditional sound absorbing materials (rock wool,
granular clay) and the rubber crumbs evidenced, in general, a worse effectiveness of the recycled material excepted
for frequencies lower than 400 Hz, where it performs even better.
Finally, an attempt was made to use this material inside a dissipative/reactive silencer. The rubber type “A” was
utilized since it seemed to give better results for a thickness of 50 mm in the previous experiments. This prototype
silencer produces high Insertion Loss for low frequencies, which are frequently prevailing in many industrial
processes. This result opens a scenery of possible applications of rubber tires reduced into small grains as a sound
absorbing material where noise has relevant tonal components at low frequency.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Prof. Ruggero Bartolini for his support and assistance.

REFERENCES
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Acoustic 9 (2), 85-98.
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Tampere, Finland.
Asdrubali, F., Baldinelli, G., and D’Alessandro, F. (2007). “Evaluation of the acoustic properties of materials made from recycled
tyre granules”, Proceedings of Inter-noise 2007, Istanbul, Turkey.

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Asdrubali, F., D’Alessandro, F. and Schiavoni, S. (2008). “Sound absorbing properties of materials made of rubber crumbs”,
Proceedings of Acoustics ’08, Paris, France.
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Swift, M.J, Briš, P. and Horoshenkov, K.V. (1999). “Acoustic absorption in re-cycled rubber granulate”, Applied Acoustics 57,
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Venslovas, A. and Idzelis, R. L. (2011). “Scrap-tire crumb rubber application in noise-suppression structures recovered of the
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