Sound Insulation Properties of Hollow Polystyrene Spheres/Polyethylene Glycol/Epoxy Composites

The generation of noise requires a noise source, transmission path, and passive acceptance target of noise, all of which are indispensable. Blocking the propagation path of noise is one of the available means when the existence of the noise source and passive receiving target cannot be addressed. This is an effective way to prevent noise pollution, often using sound insulation materials to block the path of noise transmission. In this work, composites with excellent sound insulation properties were designed and prepared. These composites, using epoxy resin (EP) as the matrix, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and hollow polystyrene spheres (HPS), were added to epoxy resin as a toughening agent and functional filler to prepare the ternary HPS/PEG/EP composites. The soundproofing results showed that when the thickness of the sample was 3 mm, the average sound transmission loss (STL) value of the neat EP and the HPS/PEG/EP composites with an HPS 32 vol% was up to 19.0 dB and 42.1 dB, and the STL values of the composites were increased by approximately 120% compared to the pure epoxy. When the sample was 10 mm thick, the average STL value of the HPS/PEG/EP composites with HPS 32 vol% contents was enhanced to 55.7 dB.