Sound absorption performance of a micro-perforated plate sandwich structure based on selective laser melting

This study proposes a sandwich structure of triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) based on the theory of micro-perforated plates. This structure was processed using laser selective melting (SLM) with the acoustic-vibration theoretical model established through the acoustic-electrical analogy method. The theoretical model was verified by comparison with the experimental results, showing that the micro-perforated plate TPMS sandwich structure exhibited good sound absorption performance with the maximum sound absorption coefficients being higher than 0.8. The micro-perforated plate TPMS sandwich resonated when excited by sound waves. The change in the volume fraction affected the size of the cavity volume behind the micro-perforated plate, thereby affecting the resonance frequency. The increase in volume fraction decreased the volume of the cavity behind the structural plate, the sound absorption performance to increase, the resonance frequency to move towards high frequencies, and the sound absorption bandwidth to decrease. The resonance frequency was negatively correlated with the panel thickness. The increase in the panel thickness increased the maximum sound absorption coefficient and decreased the sound absorption bandwidth when the structure resonated. Also, high-order resonance frequencies appeared when the number of cell layers increased to a certain level.