Acoustic Underlay Manufactured from Carpet Tile Wastes

Project manager: Dr Mohsen Miraftab

Tel ext: 01204 903663

e-mail address mm4@bolton.ac.uk|

Carpet waste is of growing concern both to environmentalists and manufactures pressured by increasing costs of landfill dumping. The challenge for carpet producers is to find ways of minimising their waste or find alternative uses for their unwanted by-products. This work builds on an earlier study where carpet tile wastes have been successfully used to produce underlays for domestic as well as commercial markets. To add value, acoustic behaviour of these underlays where granular/fibre mixing ratios, binder concentration and particle size distribution play a major role have been examined in this study. The results show that it is possible to maximize impact sound reduction capabilities of these underlays by selective control and adjustment of the above variables. Manufacturing formulation consisting of 60:40 granular/fibre mixture ratio, 60% binder concentration and granule particle size dimensions of <2mm is shown to be most appropriate in achieving effective impact sound insulation. Optimised recycled underlay discovered in this work appears to perform better than most commercial systems tested. The manufactured underlay withstood and, in some instances, outperformed the standard tests required within BS 5808 protocol. The study concludes that recycling carpet waste to produce quality acoustic underlay with desirable impact sound insulation characteristics is technically feasible and a viable alternative to landfill or incineration. Anglo Felt Limited is currently producing this product on commercial scale.

Department the project sits within:
CMRI - Centre for Materials Research and Innovation

Partners: Wrace, Milliken Carpets, Adlington Carpet Tiles, Burmatex Ltd,
Rosehill Polymers Ltd, Hosakava Ltd and Thelcastle Ltd

Funder(s): private + Company

http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/AcousticUnderlay.84ecd45d.pdf|

http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/PLA_0041_Acoustic_underlay_Final_Report.dacec089.pdf|