Porous foam more efficient in NVH dampening

BASF is developing new applications for its porous foam material, currently used in the automotive industry, which is twice as efficient at absorbing noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

At a recent R&D conference held at BASF’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the company said the elastomer-based foam material known as Cellasto will now move beyond its use as part of the suspension system in passenger, commercial and Formula One vehicles.

The foam contains open pores into which sound and vibration waves are drawn; once trapped, they cannot penetrate the core of the structure of the material, thereby dampening the effects.

The research team responsible for the material’s development tested a range of pore sizes on the material and found that reducing the diameter of the pores by an average of 10% to 100 microns also reduced the intensity of the sound that reflected back out of the pores.

Cellasto has similar properties to foam rubber and is also made using curing to achieve chemical cross-linking; however, the elastomers are also physically cross-linked, giving the new material distinct advantages over rubber.

The material’s porous structure completely collapses in on itself – rather than spilling out – when compressed, and thus the material can be used to absorb vibration harshness in confined spaces such as in a piston, says BASF.

BASF says the material can adapted for use in other household appliances such as: fridges, heaters, microwaves and washing machines to reduce the respective NVH effects.

Meanwhile, the team is continuing to optimise the technology for automotive customers. Marc Ingelmann, head of NVH at BASF said, “[We are] working on new technologies for elastomers, optimising the dynamic-stiffening and the damping for NVH applications, especially in the regards of increasing comfort and safety demands.”

The team will now test combinations of different materials to improve the performance of their NVH dampening products.