Evaluation of composite made from palm oil fibres as sound absorber

In recent years, research into using natural fibre as a sound-absorbing material has grown. Various natural fibres’ acoustic performance is studied and compared. Consistency of material qualities in samples of natural fibres is a key consideration when evaluating its sound and vibration properties. In this work, the influence of a compatibilizer on oil palm fibre (OPF)-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) samples are evaluated in terms of their sound and vibration properties. The samples are produced both with and without a compatibilizer. The compatibilizer utilized in this study has a 5% concentration. The composite samples are made by compressing the material to a thickness of 1 mm. The performance of sound absorption was measured using the impedance tube. The results show that the sound absorption coefficient (SAC) for the composites reinforced with compatibilizer has greater repeatability than composites without compatibilizer. For the purpose of determining the damping properties of the composite with a compatibilizer, the free vibration measurement method was utilized. The tensile strength of the samples is also determined using a universal tensile machine. The average SAC, damping ratio, and maximum tensile strength produced by composites reinforced with compatibilizer are reported to be 0.86, 0.036 respectively, and 18 MPa, respectively.