InterNoise 2024 - Keynote Lecture #3 by Bhisham Sharma : The Opportunities and Challenges in Additively Manufacturing Acoustical Materials

Traditional porous acoustical materials are typically lightweight, cost-effective, and provide desirable acoustical performance over a broad frequency range. However, their low mass densities are accompanied by poor mechanical stiffness characteristics. This hampers their suitability for multifunctional applications that require robust acoustical performance in conjunction with effective load-bearing capabilities. Moreover, the limited control over the porous architecture provided by traditional fabrication techniques constrains the ability to optimize and customize their performance for specific application requirements. The recent innovations in additive manufacturing methods provide an opportunity to develop a new generation of acoustical materials that can overcome these limitations. In this keynote, I will provide a brief overview of current additive manufacturing methods and their use towards designing multifunctional acoustical materials. In addition to demonstrating the various acoustical materials designs opportunities enabled by these methods, I will also discuss the current challenges hindering their widespread adoption. Finally, I propose a new technique to enhance the design and modeling of additively manufactured acoustical materials and present some initial results demonstrating the advantages of this technique over current state-of-the-art modeling methodologies.