Damping and sound absorption properties of particle reinforced Al matrix composite foams

In this paper, the damping and sound absorption properties of A356/xSiCp composite foams have been studied (x expresses SiC vol.%). The results show that the loss factor (beta)of A356/SiCp foams changes slightly with the increasing of temperature and frequency within the measured range. But there is some significant density dependence that the lower density foams have a higher (beta)than the denser foams. When the cell structure is decided, the sound absorption factor (alpha)n is insensitive to the processes and increases with the raising SiC particle volume percent. A356/SiC foams have better damping and sound absorption properties than Al foams due to the existence of a large number of SiCp particles and a great amount of Al/SiCp interface in the composite foams which are beneficial to the absorption of the vibration energy.