From the Alta Scuola Politecnica the panel-labyrinth that imprisons noise

Lightweight and inexpensive, the new panels have the ability to reduce and cancel noise thanks to their "labyrinthine" internal structure

A new invention capable of revolutionizing acoustic technology for noise attenuation: these anti-noise panels are capable of absorbing sound waves, based on "labyrinthine metamaterials". These metamaterials, so defined because they have higher potential than those of conventional materials, have a particular "labyrinth" structure that allows the acoustic wave to be reflected several times inside them, progressively reducing until it disappears.

The minds behind this new technology are six students of the Alta Scuola Politecnica, the international program that brings together the best students of the Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino: Leonardo Bettini student Aeronautical Engineering), Venus Hasanuzzaman Kamrul (Alumnus Engineering Physics 2021), Emanuele Musso ( Alumnus Engineering Mechanical 2021) , Fabio Nistri (student of Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology), Davide Piciucco ( Alumnus of Civil Engineering 2021) and Matteo Zemello (Alumnus of Aeronautical Engineering 2021).

Credits: Alta Scuola Politecnica

In addition to the particular structure, the new panels are characterized by being light and inexpensive , and are created through 3D printing, using waste plastics. The erasable noises are very varied: from medium frequency sounds, typical of speech and some musical instruments, to low frequency ones, caused by motors. The sectors of application are also different, from construction to automotive, up to domestic use.

The project was tested and validated at Energy Department-DENERG "Galileo Ferraris" of the Politecnico di Torino and involved, as an industrial partner, Phononic Vibes , a company born in 2018 as a spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano; will now continue within the European research path FET - Boheme , coordinated by the University of Trento and in which the Politecnico of Turin, the Imperial College of London and the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich (ETH) are involved among others.

Find out all about frontier research at Politecnico and on the topics defined by the European Commission as part of the Recovery Plan. Visit the Next Generation EU website of the Politecnico di Milano .

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Credits header: Alta Scuola Politecnica