Influence of thermal deformations on sound absorption of three-dimensional printed metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) are designed with complex geometrical shapes to obtain unconventional sound-absorbing performances. As additive manufacturing is particularly suited to print complex structures in a more straightforward and controllable way, AMMs often exploit three-dimensional (3-D) printing techniques. However, when exposed to different temperature conditions, such structures can be affected by geometrical deformations, especially when they are polymer-based. This can cause a mismatch between the experimental data and the expected theoretical performance; therefore, it is important to take thermal effects into account. The present paper investigates the influence of thermal deformations on the sound absorption of three geometries: a coplanar spiral tube, a system with double coiled resonators, and a neck-embedded resonator. Measurements were performed on each 3-D printed specimen in the impedance tube after the samples had been placed in a climate chamber to modify the temperature settings (T = 10-50 °C). Numerical models, validated on the measurements, were employed to quantify the geometrical deformation of AMM structures through a multiphysics approach, highlighting the effects of thermal stress on the acoustic behavior. The main outcomes prove that the frequency shifts of sound absorption peaks depend on temperature configurations and follow exponential regressions, in accordance with previous literature on polymeric materials.