WoodBeQuiet panels installed on the ceiling to reduce noise in an office in San Diego, USA. All images: Acoufelt
Recycled plastic has been used to develop a series of noise-absorbing panels designed to look like timber.
TheWoodBeQuiet range of planks by Acoufelt are made from polyester fibres with more than 60% recycled content.
PET-based recycled plastic beverage bottles that normally would go to the landfill are cleaned and then cut into flakes before being melted and extruded into fibres of natural white colour. These regenerated fibres are then carded and thermo bounded to form rigid, acoustic panels.
But the extra magic lay in how they could be sound-absorbing.
Panels used on a wall installation.
Acoufelt Marketing Manager - Global, Lucy Pittman, told Materials World the planks are made by a print technology process where the colour is targeted to the areas of the panel, while ensuring air-gaps in the porous material remain open to absorbing noise. The net result is a printing technique that is high resolution, and has no significant impact on the acoustic performance of the base material.
‘Many other high-resolution printing techniques involve laying down a hard-setting paint or ink over the top of the base surface. This can result in a filling of the air gaps in the porous surface of an acoustic material, inhibiting noise absorption,’ she said.
‘Other printing techniques allow the colour to “run” in the material, like a drop of ink on a blotting sheet. This can result in poor resolution as the fine edge of the images blur.’
The panels can be used for walls and ceilings, and applied to hard surfaces including screens, partitions and ceiling baffles.
