Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395

Sound absorption characteristics of lotus-type porous copper

fabricated by unidirectional solidification
Zhenkai Xie∗ , Teruyuki Ikeda, Yosiyuki Okuda, Hideo Nakajima
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan

Received 9 March 2004; received in revised form 15 July 2004

Abstract

Lotus-type porous copper with large number of unidirectional cylindrical pores was fabricated by unidirectional solidification of melt
dissolving hydrogen in a pressurized hydrogen atmosphere. The sound absorption coefficient of the porous copper plate, which has many
open pores, was measured by standing-wave method in the frequency range up to 4 kHz. The absorption coefficient increases with increasing
frequency. The absorption coefficient increases with increasing porosity and specimen thickness, while it decreases with increasing pore
diameter. In addition, it was understood that the absorption coefficient of lotus-type porous materials could be evaluated by using the
attenuation constant.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Porous metals; Attenuation constant; Absorption coefficient; Porosity; Pore diameter

1. Introduction In a recent experiment [14], we investigated sound ab-

Recently, sound absorbing materials with an advanced
performance to noises are required for mufflers of cars, air-
conditioner parts, pump chambers, elevated roads, etc. The
glass wool and foamed aluminum with closed pores are used
most frequently as marketed sound absorbing materials at
present. In most cases, these materials have low strength
though they have good sound absorption capacity. The devel-
opment of the sound absorbing material with comprehensive
characteristics such as high strength, lightweight and good
sound absorption capacity is desirable.
Boiko et al. [1] and, Nakajima and co-workers [2–13] in-
vestigated the fabrication of various porous metals with elon-
gated pores by unidirectional solidification under pressurized
hydrogen and argon. Many gas pores that are aligned in one
direction are evolved due to the difference of hydrogen sol-
ubility between liquid and solid. It is interesting to investi-
gate whether such porous metals with elongated pores exhibit
good sound absorption capability.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 6 6879 8437; fax: +81 6 6879 8439.
E-mail address: xzk23@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp (Z.K. Xie).
sorption characteristics of lotus-type porous magnesium and
found a good absorption capability. It is interesting to inves-
tigate the sound absorption characteristics of other materials
such as lotus-type porous copper. Since the lotus-type porous
copper fabricated by unidirectional solidification has uniform
pore size and since it is easy to fabricate than other lotus-type
porous metals, we have decided to examine its sound absorp-
tion capability. In addition, the sound absorption mechanism
is discussed according to the model of absorbing sound of
the porous material.
2. Experimental procedure
The fabrication apparatus of the porous metal consists of a
graphite crucible (110 mm in outer diameter, 90 mm in inner
diameter and 175 mm in height) surrounded by an induction-
heating coil and a mould. These are installed in a high-
pressure chamber [7]. Copper (purity: 99.99%) was melted
in the crucible in a vacuum, and then high-pressure mixture
gas of hydrogen and argon was introduced into the chamber.
The temperature of the melt in the crucible was monitored by

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2004.07.058
 Z. Xie et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395
a W-5%Re/W-26%Re thermocouple and was controlled to
be 1500 K. After 20 min to make hydrogen dissolve into the
molten copper, by pulling the stopper of graphite upward, the
molten copper was poured into the mould whose bottom plate
was cooled with water circulated through a chiller. The lateral
side of the mould was made of alumina-coated stainless steel
plate of 0.1 mm thickness, which is suitable for heat insula-
tion because of its small heat capacity; solidification occurs
in one direction from the bottom to the top. The ingots thus
obtained were 100 mm in diameter and 130 mm in maximum
height and contained various levels of porosity, which were
controlled by the total and partial pressures of hydrogen and
argon. Typical cross-sections of the porous copper are shown
in Fig. 1. The specimens for the absorption coefficient mea-
surement with a gauge diameter of 85 and 30 mm were cut
out from the ingots by using a spark–erosion wire cutting
machine (Model A320D, Sodick Co.). The porosity ε of the
specimen was calculated from the weight of specimens and
their apparent volume using the equation
Fig. 1. Optical micrographs of lotus-type porous copper with 44% porosity
fabricated under hydrogen of 0.4 MPa (a) a section perpendicular to the so-
lidification direction and (b) a section parallel to the solidification direction.
391
Fig. 2. Schematic drawing for measurement of sound absorption coefficient.


ρ
ε(%) = 1− × 100 (1)
ρs
where ρ is the density of the porous copper and ρs the density
of ordinary solid copper.
The sound absorption coefficient of the specimen was
measured by a standing-wave method [15]. It is known that
the absorption coefficient depends on the angle between the
material surface and the incident sound wave. In the present
work, the specimen surface was set perpendicular to the in-
cident sound wave. Fig. 2 shows the schematic drawing for
measurement of the sound absorption coefficient. The speci-
men was set on the rigid wall in the sound tube. A pure sound
with a single frequency was generated from the speaker in-
stalled at the other end. The standing-wave is caused by the
interference between an incidence wave and a reflection wave
in the tube. The sound pressure becomes the maximum at
each one-quarter of the wavelength. The maximum value of
the sound pressure is written as |p|max = |A + B|, where A and
B are the amplitude of incidence wave and reflection wave,
respectively. The minimum value of the sound pressure is
written as |p|min = |A − B|. The ratio between the maximum
and minimum of the sound pressure, n, is given by
|p|max |A + B|
= =n (2)
|p|min |A − B|
The sound reflectivity of the specimen is written as
 
  B n − 1
 rp  =   = (3)
A n + 1
The absorption coefficient, α0 , is given by
 2 4
α0 = 1 − rp  = (4)
n + (1/n) + 2
|p|max and |p|min are measured by moving the microphone
in the tube to determine the value of n. Then the absorption
coefficient can be calculated using Eq. (4). This measuring
method is called a standing-wave method, which is one of the
392 Z. Xie et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395

Fig. 3. Schematic drawing for measurement of flow resistance.

tube methods, and the details are provided in JISA 1405–1963 Fig. 4. Effect of pore diameter d on sound absorption coefficient α0 of lotus-
standards [15]. type porous copper.
In the present work, it is necessary to measure the flow
resistance of the lotus-type porous copper. The flow resis-
tance of the sound absorbing material is basically the same
as the ventilation resistance, used to show the ventilations
such as cloth and paper [16]. Both the flow resistance and
the absorption coefficient show amounts of the performance
of absorbing sound in the porous material. Unit area flow
resistance of the porous sound absorbing material is defined
by
p
Rf = , (5)
u
where u is the flow ratio when the constant air is passed
through the vertical direction on the surface of the material, Fig. 5. Effect of porosity ε on sound absorption coefficient of lotus-type
orous copper.
and p is difference in pressures at both sides of material.
A pump is operated as shown in Fig. 3, and the differential
stant pore diameter 380 ␮m and constant specimen thickness
pressure between both sides of the specimen is measured with
10 mm. The absorption coefficient increases with increasing
a U manometer. The flow ratio u is written as
porosity from 43 to 62%. There is some data scattering, which
Q is attributed to co-existence of non-permeable and permeable
u= , (6)
S pores.
where S and Q are area of specimen and flow volume of air, Fig. 6 shows the dependence of the absorption coefficient
respectively. on specimen thickness when the pore diameter and porosity
are constant. The absorption coefficient increases with in-
creasing thickness. Especially, the absorption coefficient in-
3. Results creases significantly in high frequency range. The maximum
of α0 was observed at 3.1 kHz in the specimen of 20-mm
In the present work, the absorption coefficients for the thick, while such maximum value was not found until 4 kHz
lotus-type porous copper with various thickness 10, 20 and
30 mm were measured in the frequency range from 125 Hz
to 4 kHz. The specimens of 15 mm in radius were used for
the measurements in the frequency range less than 1000 Hz,
while those of 42.5 mm in radius were used in the range more
than 1000 Hz. The absorption coefficient α0 was measured as
functions of the pore diameter d, the porosity ε and specimen
thickness t of the lotus-type porous copper.
The absorption coefficient α0 was measured as a function
of pore diameter under the condition that the specimen thick-
ness and the porosity were constant. As shown in Fig. 4, α0
increases with decrease in pore diameter from 660 to 460 ␮m
in the whole frequency range up to 4 kHz. Fig. 5 shows the Fig. 6. Effect of specimen thickness t with 10 and 20 mm on sound absorp-
porosity dependence of the absorption coefficient for con- tion coefficient α of lotus-type porous copper.
 Z. Xie et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395 393

Table 1
Results of porosity, pore diameter, flow resistance and absorption coefficient α0 lotus-type porous copper
Thickness (mm) Porosity (%) Pore diameter (␮m) Flow resistance Absorption coefficient (%) Penetration ratio
(Ns/m3 )
1 kHz 2 kHz 3 kHz 4 kHz
10 61 460 8.4 9 30 76 81 High
59 550 2.8 7 22 66 75 High
58 660 1.7 7 17 31 70 High
10 62 413 0.18 8 27 43 90 High
55 404 0.15 7 20 39 93 High
43 425 0.07 6 14 30 79 High
20 51 680 1.04 35 72 52 49 Medium
52 510 0.56 41 73 61 57 Medium
47 270 1.45 43 84 52 59 Medium
20 43 602 4.6 49 36 44 68 Medium
47 609 0.6 – – – – Medium
54 613 4.9 32 44 43 49 Medium
30 30 867 1.9 18 62 71 65 Low
38 847 1.8 18 68 78 69 Low
50 850 3.7 – – – – Low
Lotus-type porous metals fabricated by unidirectional solidification include permeable pores and non-permeable pores. The rates of area of permeable pores
S1 to area of pore on surface S2 is called the penetration ratio, which is described as S1 /S2 .

in the specimen of 10-mm thick. A similar tendency was ob- 4. Discussion

served for the lotus-type porous magnesium that had already
been reported [14].
In the present work, the flow resistance was measured as
a function of specimen thickness, whose result is compiled
in Table 1.
The glass wool has a peculiar mechanism of absorb-
ing sound and is used widely as the sound absorbing ma-
terial. The absorption coefficients of the lotus-type porous
copper, the foam aluminum and the glass wool with the
same thickness, in the same frequency region were com-
pared as shown in Fig. 7. All of them were measured by
a standing-wave method. The glass wool [17] and foam
aluminum [18] exhibit superior absorption capacity. The
foam aluminum is composed of many independent closed
pores. Continuous pores are necessary to have high sound
absorption capability [17] so that minute cracks are intro-
duced by rolling to connect the pores of the foam alu-
minum.
Fig. 7. Comparison of absorption coefficient of various materials.
4.1. Mechanism of sound absorption
It is thought that the viscosity resistance of air in pores
plays an important role in absorbing the sound for the porous
material. The sound is absorbed by the resistance in the fiber
and thin space of pores, when the sound enters into the open
pores in porous materials [19]. The sound is also absorbed
by disturbance of the movement of air. The absorption of the
sound in porous material is considered to be mainly due to
the consumption of the sound energy by the viscosity and
the thermal conduction when the sound is propagating into
the thin tube. It is difficult to analyze this strictly because the
pores in the porous material are arranged to have complex
shape.
4.2. Attenuation of sound in thin tube
The lotus-type porous metal can be considered as an as-
sembly of many parallel thin tubes. In order to simplify the
analysis, first consider how a sound propagates in only one
tube. When a sound propagates in a thin tube, the attenuation
of a sound depends on the material of the tube. The attenu-
ation in a smooth metal tube has been reported to be larger
than the attenuation in air [20]. According to Igarasi [21], the
attenuation constant β is expressed as
0.0102 1/2
β= f (7)
cr
where c and r are speed of sound and radius of tube, re-
spectively. The attenuation of sound can often be disregarded
when the inner diameter exceeds several centimetres because
394 Z. Xie et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395

attenuation is reversely proportional to the inner diameter in

Eq. (7). On the other hand, since the radius of pores of the
lotus-type porous copper is from 200 ␮m to 1 mm, the atten-
uation increases when the sound enters the lotus-type porous
copper. The attenuation constants of N pores are given by
β 0.0102 1/2
βN = = f (8)
N crN
The relation between the pore number and the porosity is
written as
r12 ε
N= (9)
r2 Fig. 8. A relation between absorption coefficient and attenuation constant
of lotus-type porous copper with 10 mm thickness.
where r1 is a radius of the specimen.
From Eqs. (8) and (9), the attenuation constant in the lotus-
type porous copper is given by
0.0102 1/2
βN = f . (10)
cεr12
The absorption coefficient of the lotus-type porous copper
is considered to be changed by dead ends of the pores or by
changing the shape of the pores. It is considered that absorb-
ing sound in porous materials is caused by a viscous loss of
sound energy due to the friction between air and inner surface
of pores. Strictly, the absorbing sound is caused by interfer-
ence between surface reflection waves and the back reflection
waves and thermal conduction through vibration of fiber, etc.
However, usually, the influence is small and often disregarded Fig. 9. A relation between absorption coefficient and flow resistance at 2 kHz
[22]. In the present work, it is thought that the reason of ab- of lotus-type porous copper.
sorbing sound is mainly due to viscous friction of air in the
lotus-type porous copper. It is possible to disregard its influ- mechanism in lotus-type porous materials. More corrections
ence since it is very small though non-permeable pores have on the theory have been made [23].
some absorption coefficient. The absorption effect by only The absorption coefficient for thickness 30 mm may be
permeable pores is taken into consideration. Therefore, it is different from that of thickness 20 mm and falls into disor-
necessary to measure the porosity of only permeable pores. der, though that of thickness 10 mm increases with increasing
The thicker the specimen is, the more pores become difficult flow resistance in Table 1. Fig. 9 shows the relation between
to be permeable because the length of elongated pores is lim- the flow resistance and the absorption coefficient of speci-
ited in the lotus-type porous copper. It has been known that mens with thickness 10 and 20 mm. The penetration ratio de-
the pores are hardly permeable in the specimen of 20 mm or creases with increasing specimen thickness from 10 to 30 mm
more in thickness. Therefore, some differences were seen in in Fig. 10. The flow resistance of the 30-mm-thick specimen
the absorption coefficient–frequency curve when the porosity cannot be measured because of being hardly permeable.
was increased from 43 to 62% in Fig. 5.
The attenuation mechanism of the lotus-type porous cop-
per is considered to be the change of absorption sound en-
ergy into thermal energy by the viscous friction in the pores.
From this viewpoint, the attenuation constant in the lotus-type
porous copper is related to the radius, the porosity, the pore
diameter, the thickness of the specimen and the frequency.
Fig. 8 shows the relation of the absorption coefficient and
the attenuation constant by calculating from Eq. (10). It is
found that the absorption coefficient is related to the attenu-
ation constant of the specimen of 10 mm in thickness. When
the thickness is 10 mm or more, a similar trend was not seen
because penetration was not enough.
The theory that is modelled as a set of a capillary tube Fig. 10. A relation between penetration ratio and specimen thickness of
vertical to the surface is basic for the analysis of the absorbing lotus-type porous copper.
 Z. Xie et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 386 (2004) 390–395
For the foam aluminum, the absorption mechanism is not
only the change of sound wave into thermal energy by fric-
tion on the film side of the cell structure but also interference
by diffused reflection of bubbles on the film side. The ab-
sorption coefficient increases by interfering with the surface
reflection wave and the back reflection wave according to the
attenuation characteristics in the urethane foam of 20 mm in
thickness [24].
5. Conclusions
The absorption coefficient of lotus-type porous copper was
measured by the standing-wave method.
(1) The absorption coefficient increases with increasing fre-
quency.
(2) The absorption coefficient of the 10-mm-thick specimen,
which has rather uniform porosity of 58%, increases with
decreasing pore diameter from 660 to 460 ␮m.
(3) The absorption coefficient of the 10-mm-thick specimen,
which has rather uniform pore diameter, increases with
increase in porosity from 43 to 62%.
(4) The absorption coefficient of specimens, which have
rather uniform pore diameter and porosity, increases with
the thickness changed from 10 to 20 mm.
(5) It has been understood that the measurement of absorp-
tion coefficient becomes difficult because the pores be-
come difficult to penetrate with the thickness increased
from 10 to 20 mm
(6) The absorption coefficient of the lotus-type porous cop-
per can be evaluated by using the attenuation constant.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully thank Dr. K. Murakami, Dr. S.K.
Hyun, Mr. T. Nakahata and Mr H.Hosiyama for experimen-
tal assistants. The present research was supported by Grant-
in-Aid for the 21st Century COE Research of the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and
Grant-in-Aid for Development of Innovative Collaboration
between University and Industry.
395
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