Preparation and performance analysis of porous materials for road noise abatement using waste rubber tires

•A sound absorbing material of sound barriers is prepared by waste tire rubber to reduce the black pollution.•The size of tire rubber particles and the ratio of different masses can impact the sound absorption of the material.•The sound barrier composed 30% waste tire rubber blended with nitrile foam rubber achieve optimal noise reduction. To reduce traffic noise and black pollution caused by moving vehicles, this study takes into account of the key parameters such as voids in the porous media acoustic model. This study proposes a cost-effective method. Waste tires are crushed into a certain size containing metal wires, and the porous sound-absorbing material is prepared by blow-filling method using polyurethane adhesive and nitrile foam rubber. Considering the compatibility between traffic noise spectrum and effective sound absorption frequency band of the material, this study examines and analyzes the noise reduction performance of the porous material made from waste rubber tires under various material parameters. This includes thickness, particle size distribution, particle size, and mixed quality combination. The results of this study indicate that the thickness, particle size, and the combination of mixed qualities are the three main factors influencing the sound absorption performance of porous material derived from waste rubber tires. Optimal comprehensive sound absorption and durability properties were achieved when 30 % of waste tire rubber was incorporated into the nitrile foam rubber. Compared to commonly used metal sound barriers, the noise reduction of the porous material prepared from waste rubber tires in this study increased the insertion loss of the sound barrier by up to 2.0 dB. This approach reduces material costs and reduces the black pollution caused by waste rubber tires. Concurrently, this contributes to the sustainable development of the traffic environment.