Our Research - Vibration Damping Compounds & Light-weight Acoustic Panels

Pyrotek Noise Control was invited to become part of NZi3 through the relationship between The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Michael Latimer (Technical Manager of Pyrotek Noise Control). Michael has had a 12 year relationship with the Engineering Department, running a number of acoustic research projects with them.

The NZi3 Innovation Institute is a partnership between the New Zealand government and the University of Canterbury. It was formed in 2006 to commercialise the university's IT research and to develop high-tech industry in Canterbury. A large eco-friendly office building in the university grounds were completed early 2009, NZi3 offers a link between industry and the university.

At present Pyrotek are running research projects, and are always looking at methods to improve existing products. At present we are developing new and innovative acoustic solutions for these products through the research carried out in the following projects.

Development of Vibration Damping Compounds

Researcher: André Verstappen graduated with first class honours 2010.

André is studying towards his Masters of Engineering. His research is an investigation into the relative effects of damping layer thickness, ambient temperature, substrate material, plate dimensions and clamping conditions, on a damping compound in a specified application (i.e. a design guide).

This will be achieved by developing two test rigs to International Standards: ASTM E 756-05 and ISO 6721-3. This is in addition to developing a further test rig to ascertain performance of damped panels with varying edge constraints.

André has compared measurements of the damping compound between the ASTM E 756-05 test method and measurements made with a Dynamic Mechanical Analyser (DMA). The results from this comparison were presented at the International Congress of Sound and Vibration held in Brazil early in 2011 in a paper titled Evaluation of Viscoelastic Vibration Damping Properties with a Dynamic Mechanical Analyser. Three of the main reasons behind evaluating the DMA are the small sample size required, speed of measurement and the ability to alter the testing environment.

Light-weight Sandwich Panels Increasing Acoustic Performance

Tim is studying towards his Master of Engineering. He is developing new sandwich panels with optimised sound transmission loss for use in various marine and industrial applications. The project is to complete a design guide for a range of panels with an analysis of their expected acoustic performance. In particular Tim has been looking at the damped plywood range products.

He has also developed a test rig to measure the dynamic bending stiffness and loss factor of small beam samples, to accurately model the acoustic performance of full size panels. This will be of great benefit in developing new products and systems for the control of noise, particularly in marine applications.

Sound transmission loss of composite panels

Researcher: André Cowan graduated with honours 2010. He is studying towards his Masters of Engineering. His project is concerned with the sound transmission of wave slap and the control of noise through composite panels in marine applications. The existing construction methods require evaluation and further development to determine and improve the STL of multilayered composite systems using damped plywood.

Andrés investigation will tie in with Tim Philips' work on improving the performance of this range of products.

Andrés objectives are:

1) Experimentally determine STL of various composite panels

2) Model the STL of composite panels

3) Develop composite panel systems that have increased overall STL using damped plywood panels

In the future we hope to be able to offer unique noise control systems using these products to better control noise in marine applications particularly for the super yacht industry.

Pyrotek has made a commitment to ongoing research, to better understand and develop new and innovative noise control products. At present we have seven staff members actively engaged in R&D based in Christchurch New Zealand, Melbourne and Sydney.