Effect of sealants of the sound adsorption coefficients of acoustical friable insulating materials

Acoustical friable insulating materials (AFIM), which often in the past contained asbestos, have been used for sound control since the mid 1930's. Because of their widespread use and the ease of fiber dissemination, friable asbestos materials are considered to be the major source of asbestos fiber contamination in the indoor environment. Encapsulation of asbestos materials with a commercial sealant product is one of several methods used to control potential asbestos exposure in rooms. A sealant product that preserves most of the acoustical properties of the material is preferred in this usage. AFIM sample materials were treated with 6 types of sealants and the effects on normally incident absorption coefficients from 100 to 2500 Hz were measured using a fixed, dual-microphone technique. 'Penetrating' type sealants were found to have a less detrimental effect on sound absorption than those of a 'bridging' type. Originator-supplied keywords include: Sound absorption coefficients.