Experimental and numerical assessment of innovative damping foams

The automotive industry is currently experiencing relevant technology changes in the design of the engines, transmission and total drivetrain, induced by increasing customer demand for fuel efficiency and more stringent government requirements in emissions and safety. One of the problems relating to environmental impact concerns the noise emitted by the vehicle, for which various solutions have been experimented: new and more resistant materials have been worked out in order to minimize noise pollution and the environmental impact of the vehicle, even at the end of the operating life of its components. This research illustrates a solution as a response to those requirements, as well as being a response to the targets of comfort: a viscoelastic material, appointed to increase the damping of structures involved in vibroacoustic phenomena generated in a vehicle. The performance of these innovative materials have been analyzed both from a numerical standpoint that experimental. Starting from the empirical results of tests carried out in the laboratory, finite element models have been developed in order to have a suitable numerical database for further vibro-acoustic simulations.