Impact sound insulation and viscoelastic properties of underlay manufactured from recycled carpet waste

This paper reports an investigation of the impact sound insulation performance of a range of materials made from recycled carpet tiles and provides a comparison with the performance of some commercially available acoustic underlays. The impact testing is carried out using a specially designed rig. It is demonstrated that good quality acoustic materials can be successfully manufactured from a granulated mix of industrial carpet waste. The effects of the grain to fibre (G:F) mass ratio, binder concentration and particle size distribution on the acoustic performance is investigated. It is shown that the optimum G:F ratio should be close to the mass ratio of the backing material to the pile material in many types of commercial carpet tiles (60:40). Sieving the granular waste and producing samples containing a single class of particle size does not enhance the impact sound insulation performance. These are important findings, which should ensure an efficient, cost-effective, full-scale manufacturing process. A formulation has been developed which yields samples with optimum impact sound insulation capability. This optimised sample compares favourably with the commercial underlays tested on the impact rig. The dynamic mechanical properties of the developed underlays have also been investigated to provide a better understanding of their influence on the impact sound insulation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.