Prediction of sound transmission losses for polymer/inorganic particle composites

The sound transmission losses of the three composites including the nanometer calcium carbonate‐filled polypropylene (PP/nano‐CaCO3) composites, calcium carbonate‐filled acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS/CaCO3) composites, and hollow glass bead‐filled polyvinyl chloride (PVC/HGB) composites were estimated using the equation of sound transmission loss published previously. The estimated sound transmission losses were compared to the measured data from the sound insulation properties of the three composites measured under the sound frequency varying from 125 to 104 Hz. The results showed that the calculated sound transmission losses were roughly close to the measured data from the three composites under the same conditions, especially in the case of low sound frequency; the values of the sound transmission loss of the PVC/HGB composites were higher than those of the PP/nano‐CaCO3 composites and ABS/CaCO3 composites under the same sound frequency, it should be attributed to the extra sound energy consumption was generated in the hollow spheres. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:2059–2065, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineer