Viscoelastic and acoustic characterization of polyurethane‐based acoustic absorber panels for underwater applications

ABSTRACT Acoustic absorbers that can have applications in a desired frequency band are a challenge often encountered in underwater acoustic absorber panel design. Polyurethane‐based sound absorbing composite panels were designed with the help of finite element method (FEM) modeling using COMSOL for material formulations that can give optimum performance of echo reduction (ER) with minimum thickness. Polyurethanes of different compositions were evaluated for their acoustic performance using FEM modeling and experimental validation of the modeling results was done. The frequency‐dependent modulus and damping properties were generated using dynamic mechanical analyzer and time–temperature superposition were performed to generate the material properties in the high frequency range (up to 25 kHz), which are significant for underwater acoustic detection applications and these data were used as inputs for modeling studies. Acoustic properties of the samples were experimentally evaluated using a water‐filled pulse tube in 2–15 kHz frequency range as well as in an acoustic tank test facility for bigger dimension panels. These are nonresonant type absorbers capable to overcome limitations arising from environmental factors such as high hydrostatic pressures and also they are effective over a broad range of frequency (500 Hz–15 kHz) with ER > 15 dB. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 47165.